Everybody has had the cold before in fact you/kids can catch it 7/8 times a year. When you catch the cold, you feel bad and you look for relief.

How are infections passed from person to person?

We can control the cold by keeping it away from us. The cold is highly contagious. When a sick person sneezes/coughs the droplets can reach up to 150 feet a second. When the moisture from the droplets dries, it leaves behind thousands of microorganisms. These germs can float through the air and contaminate surfaces. The virus can live outside the human body for up to a few days. You can catch it through Inhalation or through the following:

1. hand to mouth

2. cut or sore

3. nose

4. eyes

5. ear

6. skin

7. any open orifice of the body contact.

People inhale these droplets. And the virus spreads when people touch the dried germ after it falls to the ground. They then transfer the germ to their body.

The virus can stay infectious on a hard surface for up to a few days. A person can get it from hard/soft surfaces like the following:

1. paper

2. clothes

3. napkins

4. et cetera. a sick person could cough on their hand and touch the following:

1. doorknobs

2. toilet handles

3. a car door handle

4. coins

5. any hard surface

5. or paper money and pass the virus. The person who later touches any of those objects and later touches the face could catch the virus.

The virus spreads easily in crowds. Everyone needs to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Also, throw away the tissue right after use.

The body uses the following to stop the cold germ:

1. unbroken skin

2. mucous membranes

A. in the eyes

B. Mouth

C. and nose

You must search your skin for cuts/sores because that is a good place for germs to enter. To catch a cold a few things need to happen as follows:

1. one the cold virus is present

2. two enough of the cold germ is present

3. three the germ passes through the correct entry site

4. and four the person is vulnerable to the germ. You get a cold, when all four things occur. If one thing is not present, you will not get a cold.

Cold symptoms will last for a few days. But they could last longer in children/elderly.

Symptoms of the cold include the following:

Symptoms

the Cold

Sneezing	People with a cold will sneeze more than a person with the flu but not enough to be a reliable sign.
Sore Throat	Common
Aches and Pains	Minor
How long does it take to start	A cold could take a few days to grow. If it takes a few hours from the start of symptoms, think the flu.
Tired Feeling	Mildly Tired
Coughing	Hacking  with a lot of mucus
Clogged Nose	A clogged nose is common Unless you have an allergy
Chest Discomfort	Mild Chest Discomfort

Here are some things you can do to help lower your chance of getting a cold. The cold is a mild form of the flu. You should not die when you catch it. Most people catch the cold a few times a year. Most people will not change how they live to stop from getting it. There are a few things you can do to help avoid a cold. It will be hard to teach small children what they can do to avoid a cold. They like to play with their friends up close. With teenagers small group pressure could make them not want to follow certain habits to beat the cold. Here are some things you can do to avoid a cold:

1. wash your hands often

2. in some cases wear a safety mask

3. where safety latex/vinyl gloves

4. isolate the sick one

If you wash your hands a lot some people think you have a mental problem. Also, if you wear latex/vinyl gloves, people think that you could be a deranged serial killer. Or they think you could be some kind of germ freak. A retail clerk might wear latex gloves because many germs could be on money.

Pick the time to go on high alert. If someone in the family catches a cold do the following:

1. put them in their own room

A. they should use their own bathroom. (Clean with mask & safety gloves)

2. do not allow contact with others

3. If no mask, stay three to 5 feet away when giving them food

4. the caring person should wear safety gloves

A. And a mask

If a lot of people at work have a cold, make sure to wipe down work items like:

1. desktops

2. phones

3. computers keys

4. doorknobs with sanitation wipes often.

Stay three to 5 feet from sick people because the big droplets in the air from people sneezing/talking cause the problem. Do not shake hands with sick people. If you do shake hands with a sick person, wash your hands as soon as possible.

simply wet your hands with water.

2. apply liquid or other soap to your hands.

3. r ub your hands fast for at least 30 seconds, making sure to cover all surfaces of the hands/fingers. Count to yourself one thousand one, one thousand two, et cetera until done. Use warm water. And scrub your nails by rubbing them against the palms of our hands. (Turn water off with a hand towel while you rub and wash your hands.)

4. do not get lazy rinsing your hands. Your hands should get hard to rub after a while that means all the oils are gone.

5. dry your hands with a paper towel.

6. turn off the faucet using the paper towel.

7. then use a 70% to 90% alcohol wash. Keep all hand cleaning products that have alcohol in them away from children. Small children may consume them.

Many times the cold comes in waves. Think about things that come up. If people are sick at work, do things that make good sense like clean your phone. If there is a lot of sickness in town, stay away from large crowds. And wash your hands more when you see more cold in town. If someone at home gets sick, do things to stop the spread of the germ.

Wash your hands more often when a wave of the cold is in the area.

1. wash your hands when you touch hard surfaces outside your home like the following:

A. computers keys

B. desktops

C. phones

D. etc.

2. before you go to the restroom

3. before you eat

4. after you cough/sneeze

5. after handling money

How to treat a cold
There are no cures for the cold. You can take certain medicines to control how you feel. But you will have to deal with it until it is over. Treat the cold this way:

Acetaminophen, found in Tylenol/Datril is a good choice to treat the symptoms of a cold. It is easier on the stomach than other drugs.

Treat other things like coughs/runny nose with decongestants/antihistamines. Avoid the things below:

1. caffeine

2. alcohol

3. and smoke because they can cause problems plus dehydration.

Some people confuse a bacterial infection with the symptoms of a cold. It can cause you to feel ill. Look for swollen/discolored areas on your body. Try to find things like:

1. a cut hand

2. a cut finger

3. or ingrown toenails. You may not be able to find an infection.

The flu is a more harsh form of a cold. Both are viral infections.

You will know it is the flu by how bad the symptoms are. The flu has the following symptoms:

1. fever

2. severe exhaustion

3. eye infection

4. headaches

5. chill

6. flushing of the face

7. pains in the back

8. pains in the limbs

9. Continuing coughs with little to no mucus. Focus on the extreme nature of the symptoms. The more extreme they are the more likely it is the flu. Click here for more flu information. Click here to find more symptoms of the flu.