The number of Galatians suffering from viruses and pneumonia exceeded 2,500 during this period. According to representatives of the Galati Directorate of Public Health (DSP), in the last week of reference, more than 2,500 people went to the doctor and needed treatment for respiratory viruses, 56 of whom were hospitalized. Due to the community, the most affected category was that between the ages of 5 and 14, where 906 cases were recorded. Fortunately, however, only 124 people in Galați developed pneumonia, of whom 52 required hospitalization. According to DSP Galați, no cases of influenza have been recorded in Galați county to date.
What is the respiratory virus?
Since it is virus and flu season, we introduce you to how viruses enter the body and the main ways to prevent disease. Therefore, according to specialists, the respiratory tract is the first entry channel for viruses into the human body. They are very common and, in general, their contagiousness is extremely high, given the high ability of infectious viral particles to spread from one host to another through the air. These aspects are favored by large population groups and cold seasons. The gastrointestinal tract accepts viruses with fecal-oral transmission, infections being, as a rule, associated with poor hygienic conditions, the genitourinary tract being the gateway for sexually transmitted agents, and through the skin-mucous barrier some viruses they can cross this obstacle, producing more or less localized infections or generalized infections.
Respiratory virosis is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the nasopharynx. It is also known as nasopharyngitis, acute coryza (acute rhinitis or whooping cough) or, more simply, cold, being the most common pathology that causes infection in humans. Of the more than 200 known viruses that can cause colds, rhinoviruses are the most common (30-80%).
Beware of cold symptoms!
Typical symptoms of a cold include cough, runny nose, nasal congestion, and sore or sore throat. These can be accompanied by muscle pain (myalgia), feeling tired, headache (headache) and loss of appetite. Sore throat (odinodynia) is present in about 40% of cases, while for cough and muscle pain the percentage is close to 50%. Also, the cough is usually milder than that that accompanies the flu.
The simultaneous presence of cough and fever indicates, in the case of adults, a greater probability of flu than that of a virus. Fever is also sometimes present, which usually goes away within 7-10 days at the latest. However, some symptoms may continue to persist for up to three weeks. Febrile syndrome generally occurs in infants and children. The main method of prevention is washing hands and wearing a protective medical mask, for a greater degree of effectiveness. There is a possibility that the cold will sometimes evolve into pneumonia with a viral or bacterial etiology.
Routes of transmission of the virus
The virus responsible for the so-called common cold is typically transmitted by inhalation of small droplets from the air (aerosol), by direct contact with infected nasal secretions or by various personal objects (woolen clothes, books). Some colds, caused for example by rhinoviruses, have the greatest potential for infectivity, but only in the first three days after the onset of symptoms, after which they are much less dangerous.
Cold Diagnosis and Treatment
Differentiation of the types of viral infections of the upper respiratory tract is carried out according to the anatomical area in which the symptoms occur. Respiratory viruses, having the entrance gate at the level of the nasal mucosa, mainly affect this region (rhinitis) or the pharynx (pharyngitis) and sometimes also the pulmonary bronchi (bronchitis). Often, all of these areas can be affected at the same time, with the inflammation progressing from the virus gateway. The common cold is often defined as a trivial inflammation of the nasopharyngeal area, of varying intensity, and it is generally not possible to identify the type of triggering virus on the basis of symptoms alone.
