Myths about colds scrutinized
Q: My mother used to tell me never to go outside with wet hair or I might catch a cold. Now I am offering the same warning to my children, but I wonder if it is true. A: It’s not a bad thing to tell your children. Children probably have an easier time understanding “getting a cold” than hypothermia, and it is a way of getting children to dress for the elements. But infectious-disease experts say that wet hair, cold temperatures or going without a coat outside can’t cause a cold.
“Colds are caused by viruses transmitted person to person,” says Dr. Daniel Skiest, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Being outside with wet hair is not going to give you a cold.”
A recent study found that nearly half those surveyed thought they could catch a cold by not wearing a coat in winter or by going outside with wet hair. Almost 60 percent believed chilly weather could cause a cold. But Skiest says these old adages don’t hold up to scientific fact. “The best way to prevent yourself from getting a cold is to wash your hands to prevent spread of the virus through contact,” he said.
Even if you can’t catch a cold from going outside without a coat or with wet hair, doctors state that common sense should prevail. Dry your hair and button up your coat.
You’re sneezing, coughing and feverish. You could have a cold or you might have the flu. How can you know just what you’ve caught?
Telling the difference between colds and the flu can be tricky. Both can make you sneeze, cough and generally feel bad. But the flu causes a higher fever and is usually accompanied by muscle aches, a severe headache, loss of appetite and chills, says Dr. Shelley Roaten, chairman of family practice and community medicine at the Southwestern Medical Center.
“Colds happen all the time,” Roaten says. “But influenza runs in epidemics. If you know several people who’ve had the flu recently, you might have it, too.”
He also says people with the flu generally feel worse than those with a cold and take longer to recover.
Laboratory tests for the flu are useful for research, but they are not helpful for treatment since the disease has run its course before the results are available. The quickest diagnosis comes from your physician.
(Send your questions to Steve Infanti, A Fit Life columnist, at Wheeling Jesuit University, sinfanti@nttc.edu.)