Health and Wellness News
How to Prevent Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
Upper respiratory tract infections are commonplace and familiar but also dangerous and expensive. Did you know that –
· Americans get one billion “colds” a year;
· The medical name for the common cold is Coryza;
· On average, preschool children have nine colds a year; school age children, 12 colds a year; adults, two to four colds per year;
· The estimated economic impact of non-influenza-related upper respiratory infections is $40 billion annually;
· Colds are the most frequent reason that we visit doctors’ offices.
So far, the 2009 A H1N1 influenza appears to be more severe among healthy young people from birth through age 24; pregnant women; and adults (age 25 to 64), who have underlying medical conditions. There is some speculation that older adults may have some immunity based on previous exposures to viruses from past pandemics. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) laboratory studies have shown that about one third of these individuals have some antibody response. (This does not necessarily mean, however, that these people have sufficient protection.)
The government believes that the risk of potentially unnecessary costs for a mass vaccination campaign would be minimal. They believe that the potential cost of a pandemic is astronomical.
According to the CDC, between five and twenty percent of Americans develop influenza each year. More than 200,000 are hospitalized from complications and about 36,000 people die. Older people, young children, and people with chronic medical conditions are at higher risk for influenza related complications.