Quad-City region fighting colds and flu well
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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Thursday, January 24, 2008 |
Relatively few people in this area have a respiratory illness right now. (Stock Xchange art) Buy this Photo
Sharon Mosenfelder tacked up posters labeled “Stop the Flu!” in a Moline medical office and said such messages must have gotten through to the public.
Constant, repetitive advice on how to properly wash your hands and sneeze safely, along with more than 52,000 flu shots given to Quad-City region residents, probably helps explain why so relatively few people in this area have a respiratory illness right now.
Oh, there’s the usual patient load, and area medical offices are as busy as normal in midwinter.
Besides, “This could be the calm in the middle of the season,” said Dr. Bill Langley, the medical director of Genesis Health Group. “It could all change quickly. We could have a busy couple of weeks, and, by the end of the season, have the same overall number as before.”
When the season does begin, Langley, based in Bettendorf, does not endorse over-the-counter products to treat colds and respiratory illnesses because “they just don’t work well universally,” he said, adding that colds are caused by a wide variety of viruses. “I tend to tell people to not waste their money.”
There are much less expensive — and just as effective — ways of relieving cold symptoms than with pricey medications, he said.
“Most doctors would love to prescribe drugs to relieve misery, but the drugs just don’t work so well,” he added.
Infection rates steady, so far
The number of sick people reporting to Trinity Express Care has remained steady over the past three months, said Mosenfelder, the manager of the walk-in clinics in East Moline and Moline. For example, the facilities saw a total of 2,469 patients in December 2007 and 2,457 patients in December 2006. Many of those who showed up last month appeared to have sinus infections and fevers rather than chest-oriented respiratory
illnesses.
That appears to true region-wide. The Quad-Cities, and a large area to the east that includes Peoria, Ill., is one of the “least-affected” parts of the United States in terms of colds and flu, according to a Jan. 12 report from Surveillance Data Inc., or SDI, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa. In fact, the Quad-City/Peoria region ranked 131st of 135 markets in the national study.
SDI tracks real-time illness data for the pharmaceutical and health-care industries. At the time of the most recent report,
3.7 percent of the region’s population was affected with respiratory illness, compared with a
10.9 percent average around the United States.
Flu shots and related preventive health measures have been embraced by the public, Quad-City health officials agreed.
For example, tens of thousands of flu shots were administered in the last months of 2007. Genesis distributed 15,541 to the public and its employees through the Visiting Nurse Association, and 19,000 were distributed through doctors’ offices.
Trinity distributed 9,636 flu shots via its Visiting Nurse and Homecare Association and Work Fitness Center. Flu shots also were distributed through the health departments in Scott and Rock Island counties as well as at numerous other venues.
How to prevent colds
The best way to prevent colds and flu in the first place is to wash your hands often with soap and water. That actually removes a film of lipids and oils on the skin, Langley said.
It works because respiratory germs do “fly out” at times, but they don’t travel very far, the
doctor said, so germs are most likely picked up from surface-to-surface contact. Avoid touching common surfaces and then touching your face, he suggested.
Another key is to sneeze safely. Children have been taught for about 20 years to sneeze into their elbows, not their hands. “Viruses hit on a shirt or blouse and it’s harder to transfer germs,” he explained.
It’s also smart to boost your natural immunity by maintaining good nutritional practices, such as eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Also, stay hydrated with water or juice, get plenty of sleep and exercise — at least 30 minutes a day — to keep up your body’s defenses.
Inexpensive remedies
Vitamin C and zinc may shorten the course of a respiratory illness. Vitamin C does not appear to prevent colds, but when taken in large doses — up to 5,000 milligrams — at the beginning of a cold, it can reduce the severity. Lower doses of 200-300 milligrams can shorten a cold’s duration, according to the Mayo Clinic Web site, mayoclinic.com.
Zinc also may help, probably via its effect on proteins, Langley said, noting that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth when not taken with food. “Zinc is a metal, like what mechanics put on the undercoating of a car,” he added.
Adequate humidity levels work to loosen mucus and keep cold miseries at a minimum. Cold sufferers may want to stand in a hot shower or put a towel over their head and lean over the hot water in a sink. All of those methods keep mucus moist and can reduce the effect of dried mucus on sensitive membranes.
It’s also useful to gargle with salt water, Langley said.
“This is just saline. It won’t irritate tissues, and it partially dissolves mucus,” he said. “You’ll feel better for a while, anyway.”
Chicken soup is a comfort food and can help indirectly, he said, adding that good food aids health overall. The old adage “starve a cold, feed a fever” is inaccurate, he added.
Old favorites such as Vick’s VapoRub may comfort a cold sufferer, but Langley said it has no medicinal value. He also declines to use tissues treated with anti-bacterial coatings, which are widely available.
“Just wash your hands after you blow your nose,” he said.
Hydrogen peroxide
Our bodies might have some cold-fighting potential of their own by naturally producing hydrogen peroxide, a compound that could help fend off infections.
The human body makes hydrogen peroxide when water and oxygen combine. It exists in small amounts in our bodies at any given time, said Langley, who also has a background in chemistry.
But the belief that the compound fights infection is speculation, the doctor said, calling it “a complicated and political subject.” There are folks, for example, who would like to use hydrogen peroxide to fight cancer and other serious illnesses, but it harms tissue when used in high concentrations.
Hydrogen peroxide is cheap and readily available, and it is best used when diluted as a gargling formula that is not swallowed, the doctor said. The bubbling action it makes causes debris to be removed from the mouth.
“It’s just not a great germ killer,” Langley said.
Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.
Most affected, least affected cities
Surveillance Data Inc., a Pennsylvania-based firm that tracks illness on a national scale every week, shows that areas of the Midwest — including a large region that encompasses the Quad-Cities and Peoria, Ill. — were least affected by upper respiratory illness last winter. Albany, in upstate New York, led the list of places where most folks fell ill in that manner. The firm studies the 135 largest designated marketing areas, as they are known, in America, tracking real-time health data, and sells it to health and pharmaceutical firms.
LEAST AFFECTED
1. Portland, Maine
2. Burlington, Vt.
3. St. Louis
4. Austin, Texas
5. Albuquerque, N.M.
6. Indianapolis
7. Wilmington, N.C.
8. Phoenix
9. Casper, Wyo.
10. Las Vegas
11. Memphis, Tenn.
12. Cheyenne, Wyo.
13. Quad-Cities and
Peoria, Ill.
14. Denver
15. Youngstown, Ohio
16. Green Bay, Wis.
17. Louisville, Ky.
18. Minot, N.D.
19. Hartford, Conn.
20. Kansas City
MOST AFFECTED
1. Albany, N.Y.
2. Lexington, Ky.
3. Birmingham, Ala.
4. Tampa, Fla.
5. Knoxville, Tenn.
6. Greensboro, N.C.
7. Oklahoma City
8. Jackson, Miss.
9. Charleston, W.Va.
10. New York City
11. Fort Wayne, Ind.
12. Salt Lake City
13. Portland, Ore.
14. Huntsville, Ala.
15. Chattanooga, Tenn.
16. San Antonio, Texas
17. Roanoke, Va.
18. Nashville, Tenn.
19. Atlanta
20. Savannah, Ga.
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