Viral cold symptoms and treatment

If you suffer from a viral cold, the patient will often show symptoms of fever, headache, or muscle aches all over the body. In treatment, you should pay attention to certain principles, use antibiotics scientifically, pay attention to rest, drink plenty of water, and focus on nutritional supplements.

1. Causes

Ordinary people usually think that "flu" and "cold" are the same disease, and "flu" is just an epidemic of "cold". However, "flu" is not the popular "cold". "Flu" and "cold" are two completely different diseases. "Flu" is a systemic disease caused by influenza virus infection that mainly affects the upper respiratory tract. The pathogens are influenza viruses of types A, B, and C; "cold" is an upper respiratory tract infection mainly caused by respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, coronavirus, and parainfluenza virus.

2. Clinical manifestations

Colds are non-communicable diseases with no obvious seasonality. Patients generally have no fever or moderate fever, no chills, few or no systemic symptoms, and a course of 1-3 days. Complications such as otitis media, pneumonia, and encephalitis are rare. Influenza is a Class C infectious disease with obvious seasonality. Most patients have high fever of 39°C to 40°C, accompanied by chills. The course of the disease is 3-5 days, with obvious systemic symptoms such as headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Complications such as otitis media, pneumonia, and encephalitis may occur.

Treatment

1. Treatment principles

International and domestic guidelines for the use of antibiotics clearly state that routine use of antibiotics is not recommended for acute bronchitis and upper respiratory tract infections.

2. Treatment

The treatment is usually mainly to relieve symptoms, including antipyretics and painkillers. Generally, the patient can recover naturally after 1 week. You can also take drugs to enhance your immunity, such as taking large doses of vitamin C (1000 mg for adults and 500 mg for children) in the early stages of a cold, which can relieve cold symptoms and shorten the course of the cold. But not all doses of vitamin C can enhance immunity. Only large doses of vitamin C can do this.