Cold & Flu Archive

Ask the doctors

Q. I'm debating whether I need to get a flu shot this year. Do you think it's worthwhile?

A. The answer to this question is an emphatic yes. It's more important than ever to get a flu shot this year for a number of reasons. First, it will reduce your likelihood of contracting, being hospitalized for, or dying from influenza, which should be reason enough to roll up your sleeve. In addition, if you do get sick with the flu after being vaccinated, the vaccine can reduce the severity of your illness.

Research we're watching

Serious heart complications are common in people hospitalized with influenza, according to a study published online Aug. 25, 2020, by Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from the CDC looked at the rates of cardiovascular problems in more than 80,000 adults hospitalized with a confirmed case of influenza (commonly called the flu) from 2010 to 2018. Almost 12% had a serious cardiovascular problem, most commonly heart failure or a lack of adequate blood flow to the heart, known as acute coronary syndrome. The body's immune response against the infection can trigger inflammation and other changes that harm the cardiovascular system.

These three remedies may reduce symptom duration and severity.

While there's no cure for the common cold, everyone seems to have a surefire remedy they embrace.

Some of the popular ones are sucking on zinc lozenges, boosting your vitamin C intake, and even slurping up steaming bowls of old-fashioned chicken soup.

In the journals

If winter brings you a sore throat and coughing, a spoonful of honey can be quite soothing. And it might even reduce symptoms from an upper respiratory tract infection, suggests a review of studies published online Aug. 18, 2020, by BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. Upper respiratory infections (such as colds) are viral illnesses that affect the nose, throat, voice box, and large airways that lead to the lungs. Symptoms include a stuffy nose, congestion, sore throat, and cough. Researchers reviewed 14 studies of almost 1,800 people with upper respiratory infections being treated with either honey or usual methods (antihistamines, expectorants, cough suppressants, and painkillers). Honey appeared to improve symptoms (especially cough frequency and severity), and in some cases shorten the duration of symptoms by a day or two. The findings were only observational and don't prove honey is a cure. But honey has antimicrobial properties, and scientists say that in adults (but not in kids age one or younger), it's a harmless way to address symptoms.

Image: © Wojtek Skora/Getty Images

Millions of Americans get coughs and colds during the winter, and many head to the drugstore to pick up one of the hundreds of common medicines available without a prescription. But those products often contain multiple active ingredients that are potentially unsafe if combined. Here's how to safely choose the right over-the-counter medication for your symptoms.

Getting a flu shot is important every year, but this winter there is added urgency due to the COVID-19 pandemic: with both diseases circulating, hospitals may face shortages of beds and equipment –– and it’s possible to have both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time.

While the majority of deaths from COVID-19 have occurred in people 65 or older, younger people who smoke or vape are at much higher risk of becoming infected — twice as likely as those in the same age group who do not use any nicotine-containing substance.

Even as we are moving toward re-establishing some normal activities, and as much as we might want to, it still feels risky to hug another person. Is there a way to do this safely? Is it worth the risk?

In our inner cities, the COVID-19 pandemic comes on top of another crisis that has plagued our country for years: the opioid epidemic. The combined effects of these two events are immense, and highlight already-existing problems with our society and our health care system.

Readers have many questions about the new coronavirus (COVID-19). We have enlisted one of our experts on infectious disease to answer some of them.