Seasonal cold and flu have arrived

Cold and flu season has begun and will last through the spring. There are simple steps people can take to reduce their chances of contracting an illness. Kim Malichky, manager of Hy-Vee Pharmacy, said the easiest way to prevent catching the flu or cold is to wash your hands.

?If you have contact with someone who?s sick and then touch your eyes, your mouth, your nose, that?s going to get you as sick as they are if you don?t wash your hands,? she said.

Malichky said that the over-the-counter medicine focuses on alleviating the symptoms.

?If it?s an actual infection, you need to go to the doctor to get antibiotics.

Malichky said that people often take Vitamin C to help boost their immune system, although she?s unsure of whether it has the desired effect of reducing their chances of getting sick.

?I?m not completely sold that it truly prevents getting cough and cold,? she said.

Vaccines are another important component in the fight against illness. Malichky said flu vaccines help prevent or lessen the severity of respiratory influenza.

?It?s not for the stomach flu,? she said. ?Stomach flu is not the same thing and there are not vaccines for the stomach flu. It?s usually pretty quick. It?s over and done with in one or two days. Respiratory influenza can cause severe respiratory distress.?

People with the flu should drink plenty of water, Malichky recommended. She said older kids can drink sports drinks while younger children should stick to drinks such as Pedialyte, which has extra minerals and nutrients. Malichky said that sports drinks are actually better to drink than water because they contain sodium, which helps the body maintain water.

?Water is good to hydrate but the sodium helps keep the water in your system,? she said.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services? (DHS) Web site contains information about how to tell if a person has a cold or the flu. The Web site says that the two have similar symptoms, such as a fever and a sore throat. However, it says that the symptoms such as a cough or runny nose are more common with the cold. Symptoms such as fever, body aches, extreme tiredness, and dry cough are more common and intense with the flu, and the flu can produce serious health problems such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalizations, which are less common with the cold.

The DHS?s Web site says that the best way to avoid the flu is to receive a vaccination. It says that unlike the last flu season when people were asked to get two vaccines, the 2009 H1N1 and the seasonal vaccine, only one seasonal vaccine is necessary this year. The 2011-2012 flu vaccine protects against an influenza A H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the 2009 H1N1 virus.

DHS recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older should get vaccinated and that it is especially important for health care workers and other people who live with populations at high risk. Children younger than 6 months and the elderly are among those at high risk of a serious flu illness.