2023-12-15 00:56:37
Photo = Provided by Newsis.
The flu has been running rampant recently.
In order to prevent colds, it is most important to know regarding colds first.
Today I will tell you a story regarding colds. How scary is a cold? The most common disease among mankind is the cold, but we still do not have a drug that can definitively treat even this common disease.
If you look up the word cold (感氣) in the dictionary, it says, “It is an inflammatory disease of the respiratory system mainly caused by a virus, with symptoms usually including stuffy nose, fever, and headache.”
Most people have probably suffered from a cold once or twice. Although it is such a common disease, it is a disease that is not taken seriously, but even in the 21st century, the era of cutting-edge science, we have not yet been able to conquer even the common cold.
There is a joking saying that if you go to a hospital and get treatment, a cold will get better in a week, and if you stay still, it will get better in 7 days. What that means is that there is still no medicine that specifically treats colds.
If you look at the data from the Insurance Research Institute, you will see the number of deaths by month of the year.
An interesting fact is that the number of deaths in the winter season from December to March is a whopping 112% higher than in the summer season from June to September. During the winter, the temperature changes significantly between day and night, and respiratory diseases are especially prevalent, and elderly patients with weak immune systems are thought to be at risk.
Only 5 to 10% of colds are caused by bacteria, and most are found to be caused by viruses.
There are regarding 200 types of cold viruses, and once a virus has penetrated the human body, the body quickly forms antibodies, so the same virus will never cause a cold once more.
However, there are so many types of viruses, and the viruses mutate every year, infiltrating the human body and causing fatal damage, burning humanity’s liver.
A cold is a disease caused by more than 200 different types of viruses, with rhinovirus and coronavirus being the most representative. There are many rhinoviruses in the late spring and early fall seasons, and there are many coronaviruses in the cold midwinter. Flu is a disease caused by the influenza virus and has three types: A, B, and C.
Among them, type A mutates frequently and accounts for 90% of viruses that cause pandemics around the world, such as the new influenza that was prevalent in 2009.
Cold symptoms usually improve without special treatment within 1 to 2 weeks. However, if the following symptoms appear, you should be careful because other complications caused by a cold are suspected.
Influenza causes sudden systemic symptoms such as headache, fever, chills, muscle pain, fatigue/loss of appetite, and is accompanied by respiratory symptoms such as sore throat, cough, and runny/stuffy nose.
However, similar to a cold, there are cases where only respiratory symptoms appear without fever, so you should not rush to the conclusion that you have a cold just because you cough or have a sore throat.
So why are older people more exposed to colds? This can be said to be because as we age, our immune system is depleted due to the aging process of the human body, weakening our ability to fight viruses and bacteria invading from the outside.
So what is immunity? Immunity refers to resistance to germs invading from outside. It is generally accepted that if immunity is set at 100 for young people in their 20s, it decreases to 50% in those in their 40s and to 10% in those in their 60s.
In people over 70, the body’s innate immunity is completely depleted.
For this reason, older people are more easily exposed to infectious diseases such as colds, and treatment is becoming difficult. Depleted immunity is no different from a country losing its soldiers defending its borders.
So, are the elderly, who have lost their immunity, left to suffer helplessly?
Not really. In the human body, there is a substance called antioxidant enzyme that is produced acquired in place of immunity.
Antioxidant enzymes play a role in protecting the human body from germs and viruses on behalf of the innate immunity when the three elements of vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols are consumed in a balanced manner.
Among the three elements that produce antioxidant enzymes, vitamins and minerals are nutrients that we consume in relatively sufficient amounts, and if a specific nutrient is lacking, we can purchase and consume only the ingredients that are specifically lacking at a pharmacy.
To prevent colds or flu, you should take care of your health through regular exercise, wash your hands regularly, and practice proper breathing habits. On the other hand, in the case of flu, influenza vaccination is the most effective prevention method.
Song Myeong-eun, medical reporter [email protected]
1702602966
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