Strains of Flu Viruses Just Love a Party
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 22, 2006
They're lying in wait, ready to pounce and eager for your first mistake.
Norovirus. Parainfluenza. Respiratory syncytial virus. The flu.
Grab a contaminated doorknob. Kiss your sniffling boyfriend. Drink from your sick child's cup.
Bang, they've got you.
For many of us this crazed holiday week, it's already too late: Our stomachs, lungs, throats and sinuses tell the tales of respiratory or gastrointestinal misadventure.
For the rest: Wash your hands!
And stay out of sneezing range.
If you don't know, the average sneeze, or cough, has a range of about three feet, according to the Fairfax County Health Department.
As residents of the Washington region rush through the holiday season, crowding planes, cars, malls and the Metro, they are accompanied by microbes that feast on the dynamics of the season.
Experts say hugging, kissing, shaking hands, eating, drinking, shopping, stressing and crowding all abet the annual onset of ailments, which this year seem to be grouped into the coughing thing and the stomach thing.
The coughing thing can have multiple sources. "There is a cluster of cold viruses," said Ulder J. Tillman, Montgomery County's chief of public health services. "It's not just one. It's several."
There's something called parainfluenza, said Shmuel Shoham, an infectious-diseases expert at Washington Hospital Center. Known as human parainfluenza viruses, or HPIVs, there are actually four of them, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nos. 1 and 2 cause the dry, barking laryngotracheobronchitis, a.k.a. croup. No. 3 causes pneumonia. No. 4 is less severe. Whew.
There's also the highly contagious respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause bronchitis and pneumonia in young children and a bad cold in adults.
And then there's The Flu, which among the young, old or weak can be fatal.
The stomach thing also may come from multiple sources, Tillman said. But who cares? The result is pretty much the same.
Now often called the "cruise ship illness," for its seaborne outbreaks, or simply the "winter vomiting disease," it laid low scores of students at Catholic University last week and more than 300 people on a Miami-based cruise liner last month. Norovirus is named after Norwalk, Ohio, where it sickened numerous elementary school students in 1968.
And even though it may seem as if everybody's sick with these maladies, the amount of illness is pretty standard.
"It tends to be the usual increase that we see as you move into the fall and winter, with people spending more time indoors and in close quarters," Tillman said.
It's just particularly distressing right now because no one wants to be sick for the holidays.
"Everybody who comes in wants to be cured in time for Christmas," said David Anderson, a doctor with Maryland Primary Care in Annapolis. "But an illness has to run its course, so, as always, we do the best we can to help them."
If you come down with any of this, the usual non-aspirin cough and cold remedies work best for respiratory infection, said Shoham, the infectious-diseases expert.
Should the stomach malaise strike, try to stay hydrated, he said. Sports drinks can help. To speed recovery, he recommends the BRAT diet: bread, rice, applesauce, toast.
To avoid illness, and prevent passing it on, take the standard precautions, said Kimberly Cordero, spokeswoman for the Fairfax Health Department: Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water several times a day, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. When sneezing or coughing, do so into a sleeve or tissue, not into your hand.
And use common sense.
Along with many others, Shoham wasn't feeling great this week. He had a sore throat and a stuffy nose, and he knew why.
"That'll teach me to share my drink with my 3-year-old," he said.
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