Prevention

Since there's no cure, the best way to take care of yourself is by preventing colds and flu in the first place. Here are some tips:

• Wash your hands. Colds and flu can be passed through coughing, sneezing and touching commonly used surfaces such as doorknobs and telephones. Wash your hands regularly and teach children to do the same. Scrub your hands with warm, soapy water for about 15 seconds. And then, use a paper towel or your shirtsleeve to turn off the faucet. (Dirty hands turned on the faucet.) Avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes.
• Limit exposure to infected people. If keeping your distance is too difficult, wash your hands frequently. And keep surfaces clean with a virus-killing disinfectant found at the grocery store. A solution of one part bleach mixed with 10 parts water also is effective.
• Practice healthy habits. Eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep and exercising is commonly said to be helpful, although scientifically unproven.
• Reduce stress. Studies show people who are more stressed are more likely to get sick and have worse symptoms.
• Make a lot of friends. The more social you are, the less likely you are to get sick. Having more social contacts and support helps you deal with stress better.

Flu vaccine

An estimated 10 percent to 20 percent of Americans get influenza each year, with an average of 114,000 people hospitalized for flu-related complications. About 36,000 Americans die each year from complications of influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for:

• People 50 or older.
• Children aged 6 months until their 5th birthday.
• Pregnant women.
• People with certain conditions, including anyone with chronic heart, lung and kidney disease or with diabetes.
• People with a suppressed immune system such as people with HIV, those who have undergone organ transplantation and people taking medications such as chemotherapy or steroids that alter the immune system's response to illness.
• Residents of nursing homes and other facilities that house people with chronic medical conditions.
• Children and teenagers who get long-term aspirin therapy and who may be at risk for developing Reye's syndrome.
• People in close or frequent contact with those identified as high risk: health care workers, caretakers, and nursing home employees.
• Household contacts and out of home caregivers of children less than 6 months of age (these children are too young to be vaccinated).
• Health care workers.

The vaccine should be given between the beginning of September and mid-November since it takes about a week or two after vaccination for the body to develop antibody protection. Adults and older children are vaccinated in the upper arm muscle and young children in the thigh muscle. The protective effect of the vaccine lasts less than a year.

Most people don't have side effects. The most serious side effect is an allergic reaction if you are allergic to eggs, since the vaccine is developed from chicken eggs. Other side effects may include soreness at the injection site and mild headache or low-grade fever for about a day after the shot. The injected vaccine does not cause the flu because it is made from killed influenza viruses, which are not capable of causing infection.

More on Cold, Flu and Sinus

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.