Many people this Winter have been experiencing a bad cold which some newspaper reports have even referred to this Winter’s cold as the “Super Cold”.
But why has this season’s common cold caused such a problem for many?
The human body needs to be exposed to antigens all the time in order to build up our immune system and keep it functioning well. So when we're exposed for the first time in ages to a new cold virus, the result is that many people will get it.
Currently this cold, a respiratory syncytial virus, is rampant. It circulates every Winter and affects infants in terms of the bronchioles in their lungs; middle aged people get common colds and if you're elderly there is also a risk you could get pneumonia alongside it.
According to the Daily Telegraph, figures from the UK Health Security Agency showed that 111 calls about colds and flu, a cough, or difficulty breathing is reported as being above expected levels in recent months, and there has been a particular increase from patients aged 15 to 44.
The advice remains to stay home and rest if you’re not sure whether your symptoms are that of a cold or Covid-19 and take a PCR test to be sure.
Ultimately we can't cure a common cold but there are a lot of things that you can do to help with the symptoms including:
- Quarter of teaspoon of salt into 8 ounces of water and gargle with it.
- Honey - soothing as hot toddy with lemon
- Hot curry
- Chicken soup
