Myths about the Common Cold

Basil Waine Kong

My fellow Jamaicans have a great fear of catching cold and the rain (fresh rain or acid rain from South Africa) and the weather are often viewed as the culprits. Important indoor events are cancelled because of rain and whenever I anticipate standing in a long line, I go when it rains as there will be no wait. A subtle reason may also be our fascination about love and romance when it rains. On the other hand, it would make no sense to Jamaicans why Freddie Astaire and Ginger Rogers would be singing and dancing in the rain. They must be nam fools.

I was walking around barefoot ina mi yard in Jamaica during a recent rainfall and a total stranger passing by advised me that if I didn’t put on some shoes, I would catch cold in my foot. I am told that over-exposure to the rain can also precipitate a cold in the knees and back. I am puzzled when my very sophisticated friends rush into the locker room to put on dry clothes after getting wet on a golf course. This started me thinking about the times I was encouraged to wear a hat so wouldn’t get a head cold; to never get out of bed and immediately expose myself to water (shower); never go outside immediately after taking a bath; stay warm with a jacket or sweater to avoid being chilled; and the many other myths about the common cold that is part of our belief system. In fact, myths about the common cold exist in all societies.

My grandmother thought the common cold was caused by “night air” and would call in the pickney dem as soon as it got dark. It turns out that she and others had noticed that during a malaria (ghengi fever) epidemic, those who stayed out late at night, became sick and even died and so developed a healthy fear of the dark. The culprit were mosquitoes that bit malaria infected people and spread the parasite by biting new victims when the mosquitoes swarmed and bit everyone in sight. A very important lesson is that a correlation does not a cause and effect make. That which is said to cause something, should exist when the cause is present and should be absent when the cause is absent.

The common cold, also known as a viral upper respiratory tract infection, is a contagious disease that can be caused by hundreds of different types of viruses. Because so many different viruses can cause a cold and because new cold viruses constantly evolve, the body never builds up resistance against all of them. For this reason, colds are a frequent and recurring problem. In fact, children can have up to 12 colds per year while adults typically have two. The common cold is the most frequently occurring illness in the world, A single tourist who is infected with a cold virus, could infect the entire plane full of people who could in turn spread it to the entire population of Jamaica within 24 hours by sneezing on each other. As soon as the cold virus get into our nose, it will rapidly reproduce and will not be relieved by frequent blowing of the nose or sneezing.

Cold viruses infect the victim’s upper respiratory tract (nose, sinuses, eyes and throat). Symptoms include runny or stuffy nose, watery eyes, congestion, coughing and sneezing. You could have the virus and have no symptoms and you could have one or more of these symptoms but do not have the virus. These symptoms could be an allergy such as when you sneeze from cold feet or have runny eyes from tree pollen, dust or smoke.

You can prevent getting a cold by disinfecting surfaces that are likely to be touched by an infected person like phones, doors and doorknobs. So wash your hands after touching potentially infected surfaces as well as after shaking hands with an infected person who recently put their hands to their nose. Although difficult to remember, keeping your hand away from your eyes and nose will work as well. This is one of the reasons people in India do not shake hands but will greet you with “Namaste” accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest. Officially, this may be a greeting of well wishes for your good health but it could also mean: “You keep your germs and I will keep mine”.

While the common cold accounts for frequent visits to doctors, If you are infected with the cold virus and consult a doctor, it will last a week; if you don’t, it will last 7 days. You can make yourself more comfortable by drinking plenty of fluids and keeping up your nutrition to strengthen your immune system. Antibiotics work against bacteria, while most colds are viral. So, taking antibiotics, sucking on cough drops and drinking bottles of cough syrup may relieve symptoms but will not cure the common cold. Chicken soup or any soup, tea, coffee or hot drink will help as the steam will help open the sinus passages and the warm liquid going down will sooth your dry, ticklish throat. Contrary to popular beliefs, drinking milk and eating milk products will not increase the production of mucus or in any way make your symptoms worse. Exercise helps. So, resist the temptation to go to bed but do not shake hands or otherwise spread the virus to other people as you move about. While drinking alcohol will help you sleep better, it will neither drive away or clear away the virus but may have the opposite effect because alcohol lowers your immunity. In addition, according to Gabriella Kadar: "Alcohol is dehydrating, consequently it disturbs the body's ability to produce the low viscosity mucous required to move pathogenic and other particles out of the respiratory tract."


What is indisputably true is that water in any form, whether it is hot or cold, cannot make us sick except from downing. You can shower ten times per day, stand out in the rain all day in wet clothes, swim in the ocean or a river, go from a hot steamy room into a cold, air conditioned room, jump from a hot tub to an ice bath and you will not become sick with a cold. Air conditioning does not infect you but will dry out your sinuses which is a cause of frequent sneezing. Though the common cold usually coincide with cold weather, it is not a direct cause. Rather, it is during inclement-weather when people spend more time indoors in close proximity to each other, making it easier to spread the virus. Interestingly enough, cold germs will not spread by mouth (kissing) or by eating foods that have been sneezed or coughed on as the cold virus does not infect the digestive tract.

So, the way to avoid the common cold is to exercise, eat a healthy diet and build a strong immune system as well as wash your hands frequently with a proper disinfectant soap. Rather than spread myths along with our cold germs, let’s join together to spread scientific truths. A professor at The George Washington University Hospital made an offer to students that if they were able to “catch a cold” without a virus, he would pay each of them US$1,000. No one has yet to collect and these students tested every myth that was ever conceived by man. Are your courageous enough to put your myths to the test?