ABC 4.2.8 C -- The Common Cold.

OK, Here it is, ABC Wednesday time again. This is the day to join in the ABC Wednesday Challenge, and share a little bit of our world with friends all over the world, and learn about them as well, one letter at a time. You can participate too, in either the sharing, or the learning, or both, by visiting ABC Wednesday,

This week, our letter is:



I seem to have been affected, this last week with a CASE of acute viral rhinopharyngitis, also known as the COMMON COLD. In the spirit of the letter C, I thought it would be fun to explore the COMMON COLD a bit.

The COMMON COLD is the most frequent infectious disease in humans with the average adult CONTRACTING 3 a year and the average child CONTRACTING 7-10.

I think all of us had our mothers tell us to bundle up when we went outside so we wouldn't CATCH a COLD, or to not go out with wet hair or we would CATCH a COLD. well, I wanted to explore some of the more popular beliefs about COLDS.

Now remember, I'm not a doctor, and even if I were, doctors never agree on anything anyway, so feel free not to believe what you read here, but my research, (Google, Wikipedia, all the good sources...) has verified these things.


You get a COLD from going outside without a COAT on.

One of the oldest COMMON COLD myths concerns the weather's impact on your chances of getting a cold. There is no evidence that you can get a cold from exposure to cold weather -- or from getting chilled or overheated.

However, people are more likely to get colds during the colder months. It is believed that this is because during colder weather, people are inside more and in CLOSER CONTACT with people who might be CONTAGIOUS.

Vitamin C will prevent a cold.

Many people are convinced that when it comes to the common cold, vitamin C in large quantities will prevent colds. To test this common cold myth, several large-scale, controlled studies involving children and adults were conducted. To date, no conclusive data have shown that large doses of vitamin C prevent colds. The vitamin does however seem to reduce the severity or duration of symptoms.

How about Chicken Soup?

For hundreds of years people have believed that CHICKEN soup can treat the common cold and experiments at the University of Nebraska Medical Center seem to prove this. Chicken soup contains several ingredients that act as an anti-inflammatory which may help reduce cold symptoms.

It is important to note that what is being treated in each of the above examples are the symptoms. For the most part once you have a cold, (and the only way to get a cold is by coming in contact with someone else who has one) there is no way to treat the virus itself. All you can do is treat the symptoms and let your body heal itself from the virus.

There are a few more myths floating around out there and I would love to explore them all, but I'm coughing and wheezing, I'm ornery and cranky, I feel like a small woodchuck crawled up my nose and made a nest, and I just want to go to sleep...

However, with Valentine's Day coming up, it is also very important to note this next study:

As strange as it might sound, you aren't more likely to catch a cold by kissing someone who already has the symptoms. Most viruses that cause colds enter our body through the nose and eyes. Volunteers who had colds at the University of Wisconsin Medical school kissed those who were not infected for a minute and a half and out of 16 trials, only one person was infected with the virus.

Now, what I want to know, is, who thought up that study, and how in the world did they talk people into participating?

Anyway, since our whole house seems to have the cold simultaneously, we are all looking for the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, so you can rest medicine....

C you next week!