Etiology of colds and flu. What is the temperature factor?
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At this time, there is no known medical reason to suggest that you will be more susceptible to catching colds and flus if you are out in the cold. However, your chances of catching these increase substantially, obviously, if you are in contact with people who have colds and flus. Colds and flus are caused by viruses. The same answer applies to bacteria.
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No. People get sick more in winter because they're indoors more and breathing the same air with sick people.
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'Wrap up' advice to stop colds\nScientists say cold noses reduce ability to fight virus attacks\n\nMonday, November 14, 2005; Posted: 4:47 p.m. EST (21:47 GMT) \n\nLONDON, England (CNN) -- British researchers into the common cold say "catching a chill" really does help colds develop -- and are advising to "wrap up warm" to keep viruses at bay.\n\nMothers and grandmothers have long warned that chilling the surface of the body, through wet clothes, feet and hair, causes common cold symptoms to develop. \n\nBut much previous research has dismissed any link between chilling and viral infection as having no scientific basis. \n\nNow researchers in Cardiff, Wales, say they can prove drops in temperature to the body really can cause a cold to develop. (Watch what they did to 'chill' people in the study -- 3:24)\n\nClaire Johnson and Professor Ron Eccles, from Cardiff University's Common Cold Center, recruited 180 volunteers, half of whom they got to immerse their feet in ice and cold water for 20 minutes.\n\nThe other 90 in tests during the common cold "season" sat with their feet in an empty bowl. \n\nDuring the next four or five days, almost a third (29 percent) of the chilled volunteers developed cold symptoms -- compared to just 9 percent in the control group, the scientists said. \n\nProfessor Eccles said there was a simple explanation as to why chilly feet could lead to the development of cold virus symptoms. \n\n"When colds are circulating in the community many people are mildly infected but show no symptoms," he said, according to the UK's Press Association. \n\n"If they become chilled this causes a pronounced constriction of the blood vessels in the nose and shuts off the warm blood that supplies the white cells that fight infection. \n\n"The reduced defences in the nose allow the virus to get stronger and common cold symptoms develop. \n\n"Although the chilled subject believes they have `caught a cold' what has in fact happened is that the dormant infection has taken hold." \n\nThe researchers, writing in the UK medical journal Family Practice, said that common colds were more prevalent in the winter than the summer, and this could be related to an increased incidence of chilling causing more clinical colds. \n\nBut they also suggested that another explanation could be that our noses are colder in the winter. \n\nProfessor Eccles added: "A cold nose may be one of the major factors that causes common colds to be seasonal. \n\n"When the cold weather comes we wrap ourselves up in winter coats to keep warm but our nose is directly exposed to the cold air. \n\n"Cooling of the nose slows down clearance of viruses from the nose and slows down the white cells that fight infection. \n\n"Mothers can now be confident in their advice to children to wrap up well in winter." \n\nCardiff's Common Cold Center says it is the world's only center dedicated to researching and testing new medicines for the treatment of flu and the common cold.
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High fever (101-104 degrees Fahrenheit)\nDiarrhea\nCough - when mucus is produced it may be bloody\nShortness of breath\nLow white blood cell counts\nChest “crackles” heard with a stethoscope\nBleeding gums\nBleeding nose\n\nthat's all i know.\ndrink lots and lots of water!!
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sneezing is for colds not flus!  \nSigns of the flu: \nStomach/digestion problems\nloss of appetite\nlow or high fever\nloss of motivation\nexcessive sleeping
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Either the cold or a virus.
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The influenza virus has been around for a very long time. Various types of influenza occur in birds, pigs and cows. The closer the contact between humans and animals carrying their form of this virus, the greater the chance a human will be infected with a form of influenza.\n\nYou want to know the "reason" for the disease, I am afraid only someone who is omniscient could answer that question. This is like most diseases. Why is there a cold virus? I certainly don't know. What I do know is how it is transmitted.\n\nIf you wish to know everything known about avian influenza, its history and everything else, I will undertake a consulting contract and still not be able to answer all those questions as the answers are not know to medical science.\n\nWhat is your assignment? How many pages does your teacher wish and at what level? Please frame your question in somewhat specific terms. This is very much like asking what is the meaning of life.I can only answer parts of the question. Break it into parts and I will try to help you.
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i done MSc immunology and the answer to this question was not clear. few theories for u to look at. 1. bacteria enjoy a specific temperature usually 37C. maybe they wont thrive in high temperatures? not a lot to support this theory. we know bacteria do very well in hot bodies! 2.its a physiological response to antibody production. the hypothalamus detects rice in bacterial invasion, switches on antibody production and heats up the system to speed it along 3. evolutionary mechanism for ensuring others are aware of illness so that they dont get infected too. 4. to ensure the person feels damn ill so the body can rest conserving energy so immune response can work better take your pick!
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Colds are caught when a virus that our bodies aren't used to enter our immune system. If the immune system can't fight it off, your body lets it take it's course, but at the same time fights all the germs that it can handle until there is nothing left of the virus. You never catch the same virus though.
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The common cold (also known as "acute nasopharyngitis") is a mild viral infectious disease of the nose and throat; the upper respiratory system. Symptoms include sneezing, sniffling, running/blocked nose (often these occur simultaneously, or one in each nostril); scratchy, sore, or phlegmy throat; coughing; headache; and tiredness. Colds typically last three to five days, with residual coughing lasting up to three weeks. As its name suggests, it is the most common of all human diseases, infecting subjects at an average rate of slightly over one infection per year per person. Infection rates greater than three infections per year per person are not uncommon in some populations. Children and their caretakers are at a higher risk, probably due to the high population density of schools and the fact that transmission to family members or caretakers is highly efficient.\n\nThe common cold belongs to the upper respiratory tract infections. It is different from influenza, a more severe viral infection of the respiratory tract that shows the additional symptoms of rapidly rising fever, chills, and body and muscle aches. While the common cold itself is hardly life threatening, its complications, such as pneumonia, can very well be.
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There in no cure for a cold…because the main reason for a cold to happen is because your immunological system has a lower number of white blood cells destined to protect you from air born bacteria that cause cold. For example: you exercise, a great amount of white blood cells are destined to repair the damage caused by it, so theirs a hi risk to get a cold after you exercise. \nThe only thing you can do is take good care of your self and when you do have cold, wait for it to go away.
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No. Germs cause infections that cause the cold and flu. If there are airborn germs, you can catch them that way, or if you touch a doorknob after someone else, and they have the cold or flu, you can get it that way too.
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Rest and plenty of fluids.  There is no cure for the common cold, yet, despite the many claims...\n\nChicken soup not so hot?\nIf people believed all the old wives' tales about catching and preventing colds and flu, they would stock their cupboards with chicken soup all winter and never step out into the cold. But the myths often have no place in scientific reality, so if you wonder whether you should starve a cold and feed a fever (or if you've got it the wrong way around), try this quiz (originally written by the American Lung Association).\n\nMyth: Spending time outside in cold weather can cause a cold or flu.\n\nFact: Exposure to cold weather does not bring on a cold or flu. It can, however, cause pneumonia, which can come about when someone already has the flu. This is the most serious complication of the flu and is more likely to occur in the elderly and people whose immune systems have been weakened by other medical conditions.\n\nMyth: It is possible to catch the flu from a flu shot.\n\nFact: The flu vaccine is made from an inactive virus, so it is impossible to get the flu from it. Some people may be sore where the vaccine is injected and may feel unwell for a couple of days with fever and muscle aches. Anyone who is acutely ill with fever or is allergic to egg or another component of the vaccine should not get the flu shot.\n\nMyth: An upset stomach is a symptom of the flu.\n\nFact: Stomach distress is rarely a symptom of the flu. Other viruses, bacteria and food poisoning are more common causes of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.\n\nMyth: Large doses of vitamin C can prevent colds and cure them quickly.\n\nFact: This is not proven, although consuming the daily requirement of vitamin C is good for overall health.\n\nMyth: Herbal treatments such as echinacea and zinc will cure a cold quickly.\n\nFact: To date, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that either can cure or prevent a cold. The best way to avoid a cold is to avoid close contact with others who have it, wash hands frequently and avoid eye and nose rubbing.\n\nMyth: A bowl of chicken soup and hot toddies can help cure a cold.\n\nFact: Chicken soup has no power to cure a cold. However, hot liquids can soothe a scratchy throat or a cough. Hot toddies should also be avoided during a cold. Alcoholic beverages can increase the body's chance of dehydration, and therefore make symptoms worse.\n\nMyth: It is best to starve a cold and feed a fever.\n\nFact: Neither of these is a good remedy. When fighting a cold or fever, the body needs
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If you have a virus, it can be influenza or a cold. There are hundreds of different types of each. The flu can include congestion, and a cold can include nausea, so it's possible that you can give your flu virus to someone resulting in them experiencing congestion. Some flu viruses are caused by the same strain as strep throat. As a preschool teacher, I used to get strep when others at work got the flu! My doctor told me this. :o)\n\nAll in all, I think that if you have the standard old flu with vomiting, fever, etc. but no congestion, it's not real likely that you gave it to a person who is congested and sneezing but has no other symptoms.
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You only get sick from germs...but....when your body temp drops due to cold weather and your hair chills you rather than warms you...you make your body more prone to illness as your defenses drop.
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Fevers are the result of the actions of white blood cells and mast cells fighting a viral/bacterial infection.  They secrete substances, such as histamine, that trigger inflammation and fever.\nYour body's homeostasis system helps to keep the degree of fever in check to prevent overheating.  Normal body temperature is resumed when the cells have finished fighting off infection.
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Contact with other people causes sickness. During cold weather months, we are often confined to warmer areas, along with other people. Being around them causes us to be sick, not the cold weather.\n\nHowever, any type of stress affects our immune system strength; cold weather included.