Beating The Common Cold

Nd year

Practical English,

Unit 2, topic "Illnesses and Their Treatment"

Assignment 1. You are a parent-to-be. You should know how to protect yourself from the colds, sore throats and other illnesses that your child may bring from kindergarten or school. Read the article about the most common children diseases (English Learner’s Digest. – 1997. – № 11 – P. 6-7). Pick out the information to fill in the following table:

Assignment 2. Get ready to share your knowledge of common children diseases with your groupmates. Suggest your methods of prevention.

ARE YOUR KIDS MAKING YOU SICK?

How to protect yourself from the colds, sore throats, and other illnesses they bring home from school

"Mom, I don't feel good."

The words are a double whammy. First, your child is coming down with something that will probably require lots of your time and attention before it's gone. And second, you'll probably catch it, too.

Unfortunately, there's not much parents can do to prevent kids from getting sick. Children's immature systems simply haven't made many antibodies yet against routine illnesses. Between nursery school (sooner if they're in day care) and about grade four, kids are almost guaranteed to come down with three to eight colds a year and assorted other minor ills.

But must we get sick every time they do? We certainly can't dodge each playground plague that comes along — that would require isolating ourselves just when our kids need us most. But we can avoid some of these illnesses by knowing which ones tend to spread in families and how to stop them.

Beating The Common Cold

A kid with a cold is a 'veritable germ-machine: She sneezes and hands you the tissue, then coughs in your face while you're feeling her forehead. But you саn be in close contact without catching her cold, as long as you:

1. Have your child wash her hands immediately after blowing her nose, rubbing her eyes, or coughing.

2. Wash your hands. Colds are usually spread indirectly: Your child touches something — doorknob, faucets, cabinets — and contaminates it with a virus that you later pick up on your hands and transfer to yourself by touching your nose or eyes. You can break this cycle by washing your hands often, especially after touching anything your child may have (including her own hands, which you've just been holding). Be careful not to touch your nose or eyes unless your hands are clean.

Keep in mind that colds are contagious before symptoms develop; by the time you see a runny nose, your child may have left the virus on every cabinet handle, doorknob, and dish in the house. So the best prevention is everyday hand-washing routines. Other family members can really cut down their exposure to illness by washing before setting the table and preparing and eating a meal, and after coming in from outdoors and using the bathroom.

Liquid soap is preferable, since bars can harbor viruses and bacteria. It's okay to skip soap altogether if your skin gets dry or irritated, as long as you run your hands under the tap for twenty to thirty seconds to wash away germs. If all fails and get the cold anyway, take some comfort in the fact that adults' colds are usually milder than children's. The parent is bigger and has more strength to fight the infection.

But the reverse can be true if your immune system isn't up to par. Fatigue, poor nutrition, stress, allergies, or asthma can all turn a child's routine bug into a parent's medical crisis. To bolster your body's illness-fighting ability, make sure you eat right and get enough sleep. Stress management is also key. Relaxation, exercise, and short vacations will help lower your stress level and may well keep you from catching what ails your kids.

Chicken Pox Alert

Anyone who had chicken pox as a child is unlikely to catch it again as an adult, even though it's highly contagious. But if you're among the 10 to 20 percent of adults who haven't had this viral illness, watch out. When chicken pox strikes an adult, there's a greater chance of complications like ear infections, severe skin rashes, and pneumonia.

Chicken pox is most serious for pregnant women. If caught during the first trimester, there's about a 5 percent risk of birth defects, which is considered significant. If it hits right before or after delivery, a newborn might contract the disease and develop a very severe case.

Can you avoid catching chicken pox? A new vaccine from Merck 8г; Co., Inc., may be widely available (it's an option now for high-risk groups, such as children with cancer). Women who haven't had the virus can ask their doctors whether they should get vaccinated, especially if they're considering becoming pregnant. However, you should not get the shot if you're already pregnant.

If you can't or don't want to be vaccinated, you have to scrupulously avoid anyone who has it. That means not even being in the same house with an infected person. The highly contagious virus doesn't need skin-to-skin contact — it can spread through air currents, between floors, and among rooms.

What if your own child comes down with chicken pox when you're pregnant or about to deliver? Isolating yourself from your child may not protect you, since chicken pox becomes contagious the day before the first blister appears. The best course is to immediately consult your doctor, who may want to treat you with one of the new antiviral medicines to try to stave off the disease or lessen symptoms.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 759