Difference between Common Cold and Influenza ( Common Cold vs Flu )

Common cold and influenza are both respiratory illnesses but they are caused by different viruses. 

Influenza viruses are single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the Orthomyxovirus family. They can mutate quickly, which makes development of effective vaccines and antiviral agents a challenge. Influenza A viruses cause most outbreaks and are more pathogenic than other types of influenza viruses. In the spring of 2009, a triple-reassortant strain of influenza A (H1N1) that contained swine, avian, and human genes caused several outbreaks in Mexico and the United States; new cases were soon reported worldwide. On June 11, 2009, WHO declared a global pandemic based on 30,000 cases of H1N1 influenza in 74 countries.

Common Cold can be caused by more than 200 types of viruses. However, the rhinovirus and coronavirus are the most common causes. 

• Rhinovirus is most active in early fall, spring, and summer (10%-40%). They rarely make you seriously sick. 
• Coronavirus is most active in the winter and early spring (20%).
• RSV and parainfluenza (20%). They sometimes lead to severe infections, like pneumonia, in young children.

On the other hand, research suggests that stress and allergies that affect your nose or throat may raise your chances of getting infected by a cold virus. There is no evidence that you can get a cold from exposure to cold weather or from getting chilled or overheated.

Reference

Erlikh, I. V., et al., 2010, ' Management of influenza', Am Fam Physician, vol. 82, no.9, pp. 1087-1095.

Worrall, G., 2007,'Common cold', Can Fam Physician, vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 1735–1736.

www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/coldflu.htm

www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes

Stress and Psoriasis

Psoriasis is chronic skin disease that has high impact to patient's quality of life. In the last decade, many scientists doing some research to prove the relation between psoriasis and mental health problem. The result is very unique. Psoriasis has stronger association with mental health than other skin disease. Psoriasis can be maintained and exaxerbated by an underlying stress condition within a vicious cycle. You can look to the scheme below for understand more about the cycle.  

Stress condition will activate our nerve system to release stress hormon that induce inflammatory factor. This factor will affect epidermal barrier which is important mechanism of psoriasis. But if you look more to the scheme, we can also conclude that psoriasis may lead or worsen stress condition too. Chronic itch, disfigurement, and stigmatization lead to stress. 

Mind and our body has really strong connection. It's really important to keep our body and mind healthy. 

Reference :

Connor, C. J., Liu, V., and Fiedorowicz, J. G., 2015, 'Exploring the Physiological Link between

Psoriasis and Mood Disorders', Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Dermatology Research and Practice, vol. 2015, no. -, pp. -.

Ferreira, B et al., 2016, 'Psoriasis and Associated Psychiatric Disorders A Systematic Review on Etiopathogenesis and Clinical Correlation', J Clin Aesthet Dermatol, vol.9, no.6, pp. 36–43.

Warning !! This Food is Dangerous for your Health !!

I’m sure that you’ve already heard about obesity, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. Do you know that lifestyle modification can prevent this disease?

Exercise is very important for preventing this disease, especially aerobic exercise (brisk walk, jogging, swimming, cycling for 30-60 minutes/day). However, FOOD is the main contributing agent in the development of this horrible disease. What kind food dangerous for your health?

1.       High saturated fat and cholesterol, for example red meat, egg, and butterfat.

2.       High simple carbohydrate, for example wheat flour, white rice, pastries, candy, bread, potatoes, sugary drinks and desserts

I strongly recommend for you to limit this kind of food for maintain your health. Otherwise, vegetarian has been shown to be quiet beneficial. However, vegetarian is different topic.

Referrence

Alpert, J. S. 2018,’Diet Redux: Which Food Type Leads to Heart Attacks?’, The American Journal of Medicine, Arizona, pp.1-3.