How not to get sick in winter?

After the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays every year begins a natural increase in the incidence of acute respiratory viral infections /ARVI/.

The beginning of the increase in the number of sick people is usually connected with the return of most people to work, and for children and adolescents in kindergartens and schools – in closed rooms with many people, ideal conditions are created for spread of respiratory infections.

In the structure of the incidence of ARVI influenza is usually present/ at the beginning of December, there are not many cases, since the normal growth of the sick is expected after the holidays and an influenza epidemic is usually announced in February in our country/ and parainfluenza, as well as infections with adenoviruses, rotaviruses, rhinoviruses and respiratory syncytial virus, etc.

Given the fact that each of these infections can be caused by different subtypes of viruses, the total number of causes of SARS is in the hundreds.

All respiratory viral infections have a number of similar symptoms, which allows them to be grouped together.

These clinical manifestations refer to the involvement of viruses of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, mainly of the upper ones and a set of symptoms known to most of us such as:

• Increase in body temperature, chills, fatigue;
• Headache, muscle and joint pain, runny nose, stuffy nose;
• Dry cough, sore throat and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting;

The variety of causes of SARS greatly complicates the specific prevention and appropriate treatment of these diseases.

And that is why therapy is applied only to the most dangerous and best-studied respiratory infection – that of the flu.

For it there are vaccines and specific antiviral preparations such as neuromydiasis inhibitors such as Tamiflu, M2 ion channel blockers such as rimantadine. But even these medications are not perfect and are not always effective.

Most modern vaccines are recommended for all people without contraindications, building immunity to the three most common virus strains in the current season.

The administration of the vaccine provides not bad, but not 100 percent preventive effect. The sensitivity of different types of influenza virus to a specific antiviral preparation can vary from 0 to 99%.

However, the intake of this medication should begin on the first day when the symptoms characteristic of the flu virus infection appear.

For the rest of the SARS, widely available vaccines and specific drugs do not exist at all so far. And antibiotics for viral infections are ineffective.

For this reason, serious questions related to the prevention and treatment of these infections continue to await their answers.

According to statistics, SARS are the most widespread infectious diseases and the main cause of temporary incapacity during the autumn-winter period. Adults suffer from them on average from 2 to 4 times, and children from 6 to 10 times a year.

ARVs are dangerous both in themselves and due to the possibility of developing serious complications. Most often these are bacterial infections of the middle ear /otitis/, of the nasal cavities /sinusitis/, of the throat /tonsillitis and pharyngitis/, of the trachea and bronchi /tracheobronchitis/, of the lungs /pneumonia/.

In addition, respiratory viruses can affect the heart, brain and its coverings, liver, and also cause respiratory-toxic shock and other life-threatening conditions.

According to the WHO, about 4.5 million people worldwide die from the “cold” and its complications every year – more than from any other infection.

Given this, for the non-specific prevention and treatment of ARVI in folk medicine, drugs are widely used that stimulate and guide the immune response during the penetration of pathogens into the body – immunomodulators and immunostimulators.

Most of them stimulate the formation in the body of natural antiviral substances – interferons.

These substances are released from the body’s cells upon contact with any virus. They “warn” the neighboring cells about the penetration of the infectious organism and change their metabolic processes.

Thus, they are less susceptible to the virus and do not support its reproduction. Interferons signal the presence of an infectious organism and the immune cells – lymphocytes and macrophages.

Inducers of interferon synthesis are suitable for the prevention and treatment of ARVI, including influenza, they can be taken during any stage of the disease.