COLDS ARE DANGEROUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1005, 23 June 1930, Page 12

COLDS ARE DANGEROUS

PNEUMONIA POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS MAY SET IN Cold wet weather such as has been experienced in Auckland for the past few weeks is generally followed by an increase in the number of cases of pneumonia. In order that tbe symptoms may be recognised in time, and to decrease the risk of pleurisy developing also, the Health Department has issued a bulletin in -warning. Pneumonia (says the bulletin) is a communicable disease characterised by a rapidly developing inflammation of the lungs, which may extend to the membrane covering the lungs. The prominent symptoms are fever, laboured breathing, and pain. When a person suddenly has a severe chill, followed by a high fever, with flushed face, difficult breathing, and a pain in the chest, he may be suffering from pneumonia, and the services of a doctor should be obtained at once. Pneumococci, the germs of pneumonia, are present in large numbers in the material coughed up by a patient suffering from pneumonia, and if this infected material gains entrance through the mouth and nose to the lungs of another person, he too may develop pneumonia. Many, however, into whose mouths and noses pneumococci find their way never contract the disease, since a body in perfect health has the power of destroying the germs and resisting their poisons unless they enter in overwhelmingly large numbers. Ordinarily it is only after the body’s resisting power is reduced by some cause that pneumonia, develops. Exposure to cold, overwork, loss of sleep, or dissipation may temporarily lower vitality, as will also the frequenting of badly ventilated places -where crowds assemble. Very often it is a neglected “common cold” which prepares the body for invasion. In fact, the cold may be incited by the same germs which ultimately become responsible for the attack of pneumonia,. The inflammation, beginning in the nose or throat, if neglected, extends along the air passages to the bronchial tubes, and finally to the lungs themselves.' Although most patients recover from pneumonia, the disease is so serious that every effort should be made to avoid it and to protect others. Anyone who neglects a severe cold is inviting an attack of pneumonia. While influenza was epidemic, doctors everywhere noticed that people suffering from severe colds or attacks of true influenza, who went to bed immediately, and remained there until fully recovered, rarely developed pneumonia. A person suffering from a cold, and going about as usual, is a greater source of danger to others than a pneumonia patient who is confined to his bed, and comes in contact with his attendants only. Keep the patient in bed in a room apart from the rest of the family, the bulletin advises. Boil all dishes, handkerchiefs, towels, and washable bedding used by the patient before washing. Catch discharges from the nose and throat of the patients upon pieces of cloth which can be burnt or boiled, and wash your hands with soap and water at once after caring for the patient.