According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, more than 3,000 people in Colorado have been hospitalized for the flu as we enter the 11th week of this intense flu season.
Unfortunately, it won’t end any time soon.
9NEWS Medical Expert Dr. Comilla Sasson says we can expect it to continue for six to 10 more weeks.
A lot of questions and false information regarding the widespread flu activity and sicknesses in general are floating around, so Dr. Comilla stepped in to help set things straight.
1. Can you catch a cold from going outside?
MYTH: “You cannot catch a cold from going outside. Even though my mom to this day tells me to wear a jacket every time I go outside, you can’t catch a cold from the cold outside. Colds come from viruses and potentially could come from bacteria, but no… it’s absolutely a myth.”
2. Like the old saying goes, “feed a fever, starve a cold.”
MYTH: “What you want to do is make sure you’re drinking lots and lots of fluids and eating whatever you can tolerate at that time. It’s very important that you don’t starve anybody that has a cold or a flu. Make sure you feed everybody. You want to take in all the nutrients. So if you can get some vitamin C in there that’s great, any of those things are going to make you feel better. The last thing you want to do is starve somebody.”
3. Home Remedies
Possibly a myth, possibly a fact: “I think the data is a little bit out, so I’d say a little bit of both. Vitamin C and zinc definitely do help in terms of helping your immune system. Garlic and ginger make you smell really bad…maybe they help, maybe they don’t. I think the data’s out still. I don’t think it’s going to hurt you if you do it.”
4. Being contagious ends after the fever breaks
MYTH: “It is a myth that you can go back to work right after your fever breaks if you’ve got the flu or even possibly a cold. You can be contagious anywhere from 24 hours to seven days after you have the flu or even just one of the viruses going around right now. So it’s really important to wait at least 24 hours before you go back to work so you can make sure you don’t get everybody else sick.”
5. Surfaces contain germs for a long time.
FACT: “Germs can stay on countertops anywhere from up to seven days to even up to 2 weeks depending on the types of viruses out there. So make sure when you come into work you wipe down that space right away because you don’t know who sat there 48 hours ago.”
6. Hand sanitizer is just as effective as washing your hands.
MYTH: “It’s a myth that hand sanitizer is better than soap and water. There have been studies that show washing with soap and water for 20 seconds, under the water itself, is better than using sanitizer. However, if you’re in a bind and if you’ve got nothing else, hand sanitizer is definitely going to help. Any type of antibacterial soap is going to be better than nothing.”
7. Antibiotics will treat the flu.
MYTH: “It’s a myth that you can take antibiotics to treat the flu. The flu is a virus and viruses don’t respond to antibiotics. Now, if that virus turns into something like pneumonia, which is caused by bacteria, then you can take antibiotics. So just because you have the flu does not mean you need antibiotics.”
8. I can catch the flu more than once this year.
FACT: “It’s an absolute fun fact that you can get the flu multiple times in a given season. There are multiple strains going around right now and unfortunately, you can get one type, recover from that, and still get the other types as well.”
9. Tamiflu will help me.
FACT: “It does actually help decrease the duration of the symptoms you may have, but you only have a 48 hour window. So if you come in on day three, unfortunately we won’t be able to give you Tamiflu to help decrease the symptoms of the flu.”
Dr. Comilla recommends getting the flu vaccine to help protect not only yourself, but the friends, family and co-workers around you as well.
