While contagious viruses are active year-round, fall and winter are when we’re most vulnerable to them. This is due in large part to people spending more time indoors with others when the weather gets cold.

Most respiratory bugs come and go within a few days, with no lasting effects. However, some cause serious health problems. People who use tobacco or who are exposed to secondhand smoke are more prone to respiratory illnesses and more severe complications than nonsmokers.

Colds usually cause stuffy or runny nose and sneezing. Other symptoms include coughing, a scratchy throat, and watery eyes. There is no vaccine against colds, which come on gradually and often spread through contact with infected mucus.

Flu comes on suddenly and lasts longer than colds. Flu symptoms include fever, headache, chills, dry cough, body aches, fatigue, and general misery. Like colds, flu can cause a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes. Young children may also experience nausea and vomiting with the flu. Flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. A person might also get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it.

Flu season in the United States may begin as early as October and can last as late as May, and generally peaks between December and February. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

• More than 200,000 people in the United States are hospitalized from flu-related complications each year, including 20,000 children younger than age 5.
• Between 1976 and 2006, the estimated number of flu-related deaths every year ranged from about 3,000 to about 49,000.
• In the 2013 – 2014 season, there were in the U.S. 35.4 million influenza-associated illnesses, 14.6 medically attended flu illnesses, and 314,000 flu hospitalizations.

• Prevention Tips

Get vaccinated against flu.

With rare exceptions, everyone 6 months of age and older should be vaccinated against flu. Flu vaccination, available as a shot or a nasal spray, can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, missed work and school, and prevent flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.

It’s ideal to be vaccinated by October, although vaccination into January and beyond can still offer protection. Annual vaccination is needed because flu viruses are constantly changing, flu vaccines may need to be updated, and because a person’s immune protection from the vaccine declines over time. Annual vaccination is especially important for people at high risk for developing serious complications from flu. These people include:

• young children under 5 years, but especially those younger than 2.
• pregnant women
• people with certain chronic health conditions (like asthma, diabetes, or heart and lung disease)
• people age 65 years and older

Vaccination also is especially important for health care workers, and others who live with or care for people at high risk for serious flu-related complications. Since babies under 6 months of age are too young to get a flu vaccine, their mother should get a flu shot during her pregnancy to protect them throughout pregnancy and up to 6 months after birth. Additionally, all of the baby’s caregivers and close contacts should be vaccinated as well.

Wash your hands often. Teach children to do the same. Both colds and flu can be passed through contaminated surfaces, including the hands. FDA says that while soap and water are best for hand hygiene, alcohol-based hand rubs may also be used. However, dirt or blood on hands can render the hand rubs unable to kill bacteria.

Try to limit exposure to infected people. Keep infants away from crowds for the first few months of life.

Practice healthy habits.

• Eat a balanced diet.
• Get enough sleep.
• Exercise.
• Do your best to keep stress in check.

Already Sick?

Usually, colds have to run their course. Gargling with salt water may relieve a sore throat. And a cool-mist humidifier may help relieve stuffy noses.

Here are other steps to consider:

• Call your health care professional. Start the treatment early.
• Limit your exposure to other people. Cover your mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Stay hydrated and rested. Avoid alcohol and caffeinated products which may dehydrate you.
• Talk to your health care professional to find out what will work best for you.

In addition to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, there are FDA-approved prescription medications for treating flu. Cold and flu complications may include bacterial infections (e.g., bronchitis, sinusitis, ear infections, and pneumonia) that could require antibiotics.

Taking OTC Products

Read medicine labels carefully and follow the directions. People with certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure, should check with a health care professional or pharmacist before taking a new cough and cold medicine.

Choose OTC medicines appropriate for your symptoms. To unclog a stuffy nose, use nasal decongestants. Cough suppressants quiet coughs; expectorants loosen mucus; antihistamines help stop a runny nose and sneezing; and pain relievers can ease fever, headaches, and minor aches.

Check the medicine’s side effects. Medications can cause drowsiness and interact with food, alcohol, dietary supplements, and each other. It’s best to tell your health care professional and pharmacist about every medical product and supplement you are taking.

Check with a health care professional before giving medicine to children.

See a health care professional if you aren’t getting any better. With children, be alert for high fevers and for abnormal behavior such as unusual drowsiness, refusal to eat, crying a lot, holding the ears or stomach, and wheezing.

Signs of trouble for all people can include

• a cough that disrupts sleep
• a fever that won’t respond to treatment
• increased shortness of breath
• face pain caused by a sinus infection
• high fever, chest pain, or a difference in the mucus you’re producing, after feeling better for a short time.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

When I was 15, I invented a new kind of cancer detection test. I’m asking Congress to pass the TALENT Act, which would help gifted kids in under-resourced schools achieve their potential.

Sign Jack’s petition

C –

The FCC just voted in favor of a strong net neutrality rule to keep the Internet open and free.

That happened, in part, because millions of Americans across the country didn’t just care about this issue: You stood up and made your voices heard, whether by adding your names to petitions, submitting public comments, or talking with the people you know about why this matters.

Read a special thank-you message from the President, then learn more about how we got to where we are today:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality

By CAP Action War Room

Foremost Progressive And Conservative Organizations Join Forces To Support Criminal Justice Reform

The United States is home to five percent of the world’s population, but holds 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Putting more offenders in jail doesn’t make people any safer — and may even be counterproductive. We spend $80 billion per year on a system that we increasingly know to be devastating communities and ineffective in fighting crime.

Clearly, there is an urgent need to reform our nation’s criminal justice system. And there are some unlikely bedfellows coming together to do it.

Today launches The Coalition for Public Safety, a non-profit that will work to reform our criminal justice system to make it more just, more fair, and more effective. The Center for American Progress is proud to be part of the Coalition, which consists of leading organizations from both sides of the aisle including the ACLU, Americans for Tax Reform, Faith & Freedom Coalition, FreedomWorks, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Right on Crime.

Through educational events, national and state-based outreach, and media, the Coalition for Public Safety will work across the political spectrum to pursue a comprehensive set of federal, state, and local criminal justice reforms that will:

• Reduce our jail and prison populations and associated costs;
• End the systemic problem of over-criminalization and over-incarceration – particularly of low-income communities and communities of color;
• Ensure swift and fair outcomes for both the accused and the victims; and
• Make communities safer by reducing recidivism and breaking down barriers faced by those returning home after detention or incarceration.

You may have noticed that, yes, this means CAP is partnering with the Koch brothers on something. But to be clear, this project won’t impact how CAP and CAP Action deal with the Koch brothers in any way. While we look forward to working together on shared goals around criminal justice reform, we strongly disagree with the Koch brothers on a wide array of issues from the economy to energy. We’ll continue to do what we’ve always done, which is hold the Koch brothers accountable for economic advocacy that benefits the wealthy few instead of the middle class, for energy advocacy that favors polluters instead of investing in clean energy, and for efforts to change the rules of our democracy to make it harder for Americans to cast a vote.

“We have in the past and will in the future have criticism of the policy agenda of the Koch brother companies, but where we can find common ground on issues, we will go forward,” said Neera Tanden, CAP’s president, in an interview with the New York Times. “I think it speaks to the importance of the issue.”

While we certainly don’t agree with these partners on everything, the issue of criminal justice is too important to wait. And in a environment of intense political polarization, the Coalition sends a message to lawmakers: we are asking you to work together, and we are willing to lead the way.

So check out the Coalition for Public Safety, and join our effort to reform our broken criminal justice system.