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If you feel like everyone around you has the flu and is spreading their flu-infested germs, you’re not wrong. According to the CDC, not only has this year’s flu season started early (just in time for the holidays!), but it’s predicted to be an especially bad flu season. Short of locking yourself inside the house for the next few months, there are a few things you can do to stay healthy. More
A deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a rare but often fatal infection caused by a water-borne bacteria, has struck Quebec. Killing eight people and infecting over 100 more, the outbreak caught Canadian health officials by surprise. Now, they’re struggling to contain what has been labeled the deadliest Legionnaires’ outbreak in 25 years. But because the disease is so rare, few people know much about it. Here’s what you need to know. More
You may think you’re out of the germ-laden, sniffling and sneezing woods, but the truth is that February is typically the peak of cold and flu season–which means it’s also the peak of flu season myths. Whether it be the mystical, magical healing powers of chicken soup, or the idea that wet clothes or hair can make you more susceptible, these rumors get circulated every year…even though they have no foundation in science. More
Whether you’re trucking it back to your parents’ house on the Greyhound, or flying first-class across the country to be with the one you love, if your holiday travel plans involve a boarding pass or ticket, they’ll also probably involve other peoples’ germs. Because unfortunately, ’til the season to be jolly…and sniffling. More
Despite your best efforts to wash your hands, stay hydrated, take your supplements, and avoid runny-nosed co-workers, it can still happen to you: you may just get sick this flu season. And whether you come down with an actual case of influenza, or just a very irritating bout of the common cold, the kindest thing to do is stay home and avoid the spread of disease. But taking a sick day doesn’t have to mean spend 12 hours eating soup and dozing off in front of soap operas. Make the best of your time at home with these hints on staying productive. More
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered more than 500 prescription cough, cold and allergy products off the market Wednesday, saying its office had not evaluated the medication for safety, effectiveness and quality.
“Removing these unapproved products from the market will reduce potential risks to consumers,” said Deborah Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a news release from the agency.
The FDA said removing the products from the market poses no harm to consumers, but taking the unapproved drugs may put the health of people at risk. More
Bad news, allergy sufferers — your torture time is about to be seem even more interminable, and climate change is to blame. “A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows a link between warming temperatures and a longer ragweed pollen season,” according to TIME. As if there weren’t already enough reasons to be bummed out about global warming.
But before you start building yourself a hermetically-sealed bubble to keep out that nasty pollen, try one of these ten allergy home remedies that are all available over the counter, if not in your very own kitchen. (As always, consult with a health care practitioner before embarking on any new herbal regimen.) Sure, seeing a doc may defeat the purpose of exploring at-home allergy remedies, but you could be thankful when your face doesn’t swell to the size of a Mardi Gras mask due to a medicinal interaction. More
Think you don’t live in filth and squalor? Think again. Turns out, when it comes to household germs and bacteria, none of our homes or offices cleans up very nicely. Don’t believe us? Here are ten places where harmful bacteria and toxic germs can hide in your home, and ten serious solutions for killing them (and not with kindness):
1. Kitchen Sink, Drain, and Faucet
The Dirt: The average kitchen sink is dirtier than most bathrooms. Up to 500,000 bacteria per square inch can be found in the drain alone. We may wash our hands after touching raw meat, but sometimes we touch the faucet with those dirty hands and bacteria can linger long after we’ve washed and dried. So don’t ignore the faucet when cleaning your sink. More
Three years ago, I was five months into life with my first kid, starting a new part-time gig, and smack in the midst of perfecting a book proposal. I was overworked, overtired, and completely overwhelmed. And then I got sick. Not stuffy nose and sore throat kind of sick, but lie-down-on-the-floor-because-the-room-spinning-and-I-forgot-my-name sick. That’s when I realized that I didn’t have a doctor. Well, at least not one I could call at a moment’s notice.
Desperate and miserable, I remembered a friend telling me about the CVS Minute Clinic (available in 24 states and D.C.) and, fever rising, I drove directly to the nearest location and promptly passed out in the pharmacy (true). After I regained consciousness, downed a Coke, and stretched out on the exam room’s foldout table, I was tended to by not one, but two nurse practitioners. They determined the cause of my collapse (a blood-pressure drop due to some cold medication); they diagnosed me with double ear infections and a bad upper respiratory infection. Then they called my Dad (my husband was an hour away at a work meeting) to come pick me up. Prescriptions in hand, I climbed into the car and was driven home. The next day I received a call on my cell phone from the clinic making sure that I hadn’t had any more fainting spells. A week later, I received a handwritten note in the mail from the nurse practitioners, thanking me for coming in and making sure that I was feeling better. More
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If you happen to be traveling in the U.K. these days, you may want to bring along some over-the-counter cold and flu medicine. In just the last week, there’s been a 60% increase in people who are critically ill with the flu in Britain (from 460 to 738). Most of those patients had not been vaccinated and were in high-risk groups for certain strains of the flu. In all, almost 40 people in the U.K. died from the flu in 2010.
I just spent the Christmas holidays in London and Brighton, and can personally attest that everywhere I went (hotel, pub, restaurant, shop, train, tube) there was at least one person sitting next to me who was sneezing into a tissue or coughing into a handkerchief. (I also went to Paris, and the same was true there.) More
Chances are, someone you know has got the flu or a cold right now. Would you rather not be one of the sick masses? Us either. You’re going to need to make your body as resilient as possible this fall, because germs are going to do everything they can to make you feel under the weather. Give your immune system a hand with these five supplements. (And as always, check with your doctor first.)
More
Check out this post on possible stroke triggers by Deborah Huso on AOL Health.
Tossing back a few drinks during a night out with friends. Coming down with a cold or the flu. These might seem like harmless and seemingly unrelated events. But they all have something in common: They could raise your risk of having a stroke — at least temporarily, a new study examining stroke triggers finds. More
We’re not big fans of pumping ourselves full of cold medicine the second our noses start running. But we’re also not fond of feeling like crap all day. Luckily, The Daily Green has 12 all-natural, at-home remedies to get us through cold season.
1. For a cough: Put three tablespoons of dried thyme into a pint of boiling water. Once it cools, add a cup of honey and take one teaspoon every hour (if needed).
2. To prevent colds: Eat a diet rich in vitamin C to keep colds at bay. More
– Naturopathic Doctor John Dempster of The Dempster Clinic in Toronto on the appeal of vitamin drips
