Win the War Against Germs and Avoid Colds

Fighting germs takes knowledge and diligence.

By Joe Merva

Arts and Entertainment Editor

To battle and prevent sicknesses, often you must know what they are and how you can
catch them. This article will show you what the myths are, what diseases are really out there, and how you can protect yourself.

Germs are out in full force this year, especially here at school. It’s enough to make anyone cringe at the thought of sniffles and nasty germ-producing coughs. Who do you trust? What can you touch without wondering if it’s covered with germs that make you sick? Germ phobia is everywhere, and colds can lead to worse problems like the flu.

You don’t have to be susceptible to these problems. You don’t have to be the one with the runny nose and bad cough in class. You don’t have to be drinking Campbell’s soup and feeling miserable either. Take action this fall and learn what causes us to get sick and more importantly how to stay away from colds.

The hallways are filled with student bodies that invite the common cold everyday. Our school bathroom is also consumed with many of these common germs. You shouldn’t always have to open and close the door with a paper towel. Don’t be so worried about the germs, but do be worried about how to stay healthy and understanding how to protect yourself.

“I don’t want to touch anything in that bathroom.” said HCC student Michelle LaBella. “Everything is disgusting, the sinks are rusted and the toilets are unsanitary.”

Somehow, we still get sick no matter how many pieces of tissue we lay on the toilet or towels we use to open the door handle. According to www.medicinenet.com, common cold germs, like most viruses, die rapidly and may be less of a threat than you think they are.

“The school put a garbage next to the door in the girl’s bathroom because everyone was using paper towels to open the door after they washed their hands and then threw them on the floor.” said LaBella. “The other thing with the bathroom is that I never leave my pocketbook on the floor because the floor is full of bacteria.”

“Even if you come in contact with particular viruses or bacteria, you’d have to contact them in amounts large enough to make you sick,” said Judy Daly, a professor of pathology at the University of Utah.

“There’s a bacteria present on our skin that when our resistance is low that can lead to sinus infections, colds, and even bronchitis” said Twan Brown, who is a Registered Nurse at Bridgeport Health Care. “Our resistance relates to how we sleep and eat, so if you get enough rest and eat well you can prevent a lot of sickness.”

Germx.com says that once germs invade our bodies they eat up nutrients and energy, which causes common symptoms like sniffles, fevers, coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea. They are tiny organisms that can cause disease and need to be seen under a microscope.

According to Brown, things that we do everyday like putting pens in our mouth or touching surfaces crawling with germs and then touching our face are good ways to catch a cold.

Have you ever shook someone’s hand and than touched your face to scratch it? We don’t even think about these simple actions, but they affect whether we get sick or not. Brown goes on to say that some of the easiest ways to catch a cold are walking in to someone’s cough droplets and inhaling airborne germs.

It seems so easy to catch the common cold. We may not think about avoiding a certain person or not shaking their hand. How would we know if they just coughed into their hand? We don’t, and that’s the hard part about trying to avoid something that we all can’t see.

Well, we know now what ways we can catch a cold. We also learned that bathrooms are very unsanitary, especially here at Housatonic. The important thing now is to try and steer clear from getting sick a lot this year. According to www.medicinenet.com, you can prevent contracting illnesses in the restrooms by flushing the toilet with your foot instead of your hand and using a paper towel to shut off the faucet and open the door on your way out. You can also use hot air hand dryers, but don’t let your hands touch the vents.

Brown explained that always washing your hands and getting plenty of rest is very key to staying healthy every year. “People don’t realize the importance of rest and getting good meals every day. If you don’t, you leave your body vulnerable to all viruses,” she said.