Campbell County Health recently received some interesting tid bits from
Veronica Taylor, CCH’s Director of Infection Prevention that we
thought we should share with you. This information was provided by the
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.,
electronic newsletter called
Infection Prevention and You. Enjoy!
Since you were a child you have heard “old wives’ tales”
regarding your health: “An apple a day…” or “don’t
swim for an hour after eating…” When it comes to infection
prevention, are these anecdotes safe to listen to, or was grandma right?
One piece of advice we have all heard is: “Chicken soup to cure a
cold.” This one actually has some grains of truth. Researchers from
the journal Chest found chicken soup appears to inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis,
which may be responsible for mucous production. This could help relieve
congestion. While there is no cure for the cold the study concluded chicken
soup may have anti-inflammatory properties, which may help relieve cold
symptoms. So you can follow grandma’s advice on this one.
Another tale with a long history is having your dog lick a wound. This
belief dates back to the Egyptians. It could potentially be very dangerous
to follow this practice. Dogs’ mouths contain billions of bacteria,
some of which could cause your cut to get infected. So instead of allowing
a dog to lick your wound, clean your hands, wash the wound with soap and
water, and keep it clean and dry.
Probably the most common tale we hear is: “The flu shot will give
you the flu.” This advice is just not true: getting your
annual flu vaccine is the best way to prevent the flu. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), flu vaccine is made either with:
- flu vaccine viruses that have been inactivated and are therefore not infectious, or
- with no flu vaccine viruses at all.
So don’t let this false information keep you from protecting yourself
and your family with a flu shot this season. You can even find a list of places in Campbell County, Wyoming to get your
flu shot here,
www.cchwyo.org/flu411.
When it comes to old wives’ tales, the best advice to keep you and
your family safe is to check with your
doctor.