the hard cold facts

last week was a milestone in the bassuk household back in boston. despite the natural and inevitable slow-down in uptake of broadband in the US, my parents just joined the more than 121 million Americans who now have broadband access. after some 6 years of dealing with narrowband dial-up, i can practically hear the cries of "hallelujah amen" arising from their little study, as the persistent stream of 1-meg photos that i send home now appear on screen with glorious alacrity. (maybe next year mom will overcome her fear of actually downloading them onto her 40-gig drive!)

so already i see the wave of stories and links coming from her increasing. naturally, as have i the most caring jewish mother on the planet, many are for recipes or other health related recommendations (like go to bed earlier). for instance, november has barely come in and sat down for tea and mom sends me this article by one Judy Forman, from today's Boston Globe 'Health Answers' column:

How long are you contagious when you have a cold?

It depends on which virus is causing the cold, and there are lots -- including rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, and coronaviruses, to name a few, said Dr. Lindsey Baden, an infectious disease specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Typically, you are most likely to spread the virus to other people from just before symptoms appear and through the first few days of an illness, when symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, and nasal mucus production, are highest.

Dr. Jack Gwaltney, professor emeritus of internal medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has done research that shows the virus starts reproducing within half an hour of entering the nose; it takes only 8 to 12 hours for new virus to appear in nasal mucus.

This rapid production of virus lasts about three days -- the days when you are most contagious -- and then falls off as the immune system gears up and finally begins to kill the virus. One study showed that when one spouse is experimentally infected with a virus, the other spouse typically gets infected within the first three days.

Since it's mucus from the nose that is the main carrier of viruses, you should dispose of tissues yourself. It also pays to wash your hands, whether you're the one who's sick or the one trying not to become the next victim.

Once you start feeling better, the virus may still be present in your nose for as long as two weeks. But you are much less contagious.

As for antibiotics, they don't do anything for viruses. But if your ''cold" is actually a bacterial infection, antibiotics will help with that and will make you less contagious while you are taking them.

of course this is much of what you always hear: wash your hands a lot, etc. really, do you usually give your snot-ridden kleenex to the woman in the business suit and matching pumps sitting next to you on the train to have her toss it in the trash? "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your breakfast ma'am, but could you..."

or maybe at lunch, or even on break with the smokers outside, do you have a "farmer's blow" contest with your colleagues? "Betcha i can nail that tree." "G-head, just don't get any up into my nose. I don'wanna catch what you got!" makes me think Judy wrote that article just so she could say "rhinoviruses"....... (make me think also perhaps really I'm reprinting the article just so i can say "snot-ridden")

[note to self: finally this blog has *really* devolved into its strapline. life fulfills art.]

i think what would be most helpful is if someone told us what to do in those first 8-12 hours upon getting infected. that along with: how does one know if one's nasal mucus is infected within such a short time frame with that dastardly adenovirus?

ok, enuf buckshot.

i just received a link to the poem mentioned first off in my last post. it's by radical supergirly (aka claire fauset) from her Oct 27th post:

let the poem do the talking

be good kiddies, and be sure to bring an umbrella.