Fluoride in drinking water may trigger depression and weight gain - warn scientists

Around 15,000 people could be suffering needlessly from thyroid problems because of fluoride in drinking water, the University of Kent has warned 

Depressed and gaining weight? You may live in an area with fluoride in the water

Fluoride could be causing depression and weight gain and councils should stop adding it to drinking water to prevent tooth decay, scientists have warned.
A study of 98 per cent of GP practices in England found that high rates of underactive thyroid were 30 per cent more likely in areas of the greatest fluoridation.
It could mean that up to 15,000 people are suffering needlessly from thyroid problems which can cause depression, weight gain, fatigue and aching muscles.
Last year Public Health England released a report saying fluoride was a ‘safe and effective’ way of improving dental health.
But new research from the University of Kent suggests that there is a spike in the number of cases of underactive thyroid in high fluoride areas such as the West Midlands and the North East of England.  

Lead author Professor Stephen Peckham, Centre for Health Service Studies, said: “I think it is concerning for people living in those areas.
“The difference between the West Midlands, which fluoridates, and Manchester, which doesn’t was particularly striking. There were nearly double the number of cases in Manchester.
“Underactive thyroid is a particularly nasty thing to have and it can lead to other long term health problems. I do think councils need to think again about putting fluoride in the water. There are far safer ways to improve dental health.”
In England, around 10 per cent of the population (6 million) live in areas with a naturally or artificially fluoridated water supply of 1 mg fluoride per litre of drinking water.
The researchers compared areas to records from 7935 general practices covering around 95 per cent of the English population in 2012-2013.
Rates of high underactive thyroid were at least 30 per cent more likely in practices located in areas with fluoride levels in excess of 0.3 mg/l.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in water in varying amounts, depending on the region and it is also found in certain foods and drinks, including tea and fish. It helps combat tooth decay by making enamel more resistant to bacteria.
But previous studies have found that it inhibits the production of iodine, which is essential for a healthy thyroid.
The thyroid gland, which is found in the neck, regulates the metabolism as well as many other systems in the body.
An underactive thyroid can lead to depression, weight gain, fatigue and aching muscles and affects 15 times more women than men, around 15 in 1,000 women.
The researchers say councils must rethink public health policy to fluoridate the water supply in a bid to protect the nation’s tooth health.
However Public Health England said that previous evidence overwhelmingly showed that fluoride in water was safe.
Dr Sandra White, Director of Dental Public Health at Public Health England, said: “Public Health England regularly reviews the evidence base for water fluoridation.
“The totality of evidence, accumulated over decades of research, tells us that water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure, and shows no association with reduced thyroid function.”
Other experts also warned that the study may have been skewed by population bias, a claim denied by the authors.
Prof David Coggon, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Southampton, said: “It is quite possible that the observed association is a consequence of other ways in which the areas with higher fluoride differ from the rest of the country.
“There are substantially more rigorous epidemiological methods by which the research team could have tested their idea”

The research was published in the BMJs Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 

Drug-Resistant Malaria Parasite Spreading

Parasites resistant to the frontline malaria drug have spread westward from southeast Asia to just short of the Indian border -- a gateway to Africa, researchers warned Friday.
A spread into India "would pose a serious threat to the global control and eradication of malaria," said a statement that accompanied the study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

"If drug resistance spreads from Asia to the African sub-continent, or emerges in Africa independently as we've seen several times before, millions of lives will be at risk."

Since the Plasmodium parasite developed resistance to other drug types, artemisinin is the best and safest medicine to treat the estimated 198 million malaria infections that occurred worldwide in 2013.

There were about 584,000 deaths, according to the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) -- 90 percent of them in Africa.
Artemisinin resistance has not yet been detected in Africa, but is a growing problem in southeast Asian nations like Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, and is suspected, though not proven, to have taken hold in South America.
Myanmar, which carries the region's highest malaria burden, is considered the parasite's main route from southeast Asia to India and beyond.

-- International effort needed --
For the study, researchers collected samples from patients at 55 treatment centres across Myanmar and border regions of Thailand and Bangladesh in 2013 and 2014, and examined them for telltale mutations in the K13 or "kelch" gene.
Thirty-nine percent of 940 malaria samples carried a mutation, they found.
The team then used the data to produce a map of estimated regional prevalence, and predicted resistance as far west as Homalin in Myanmar -- 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the frontier with India.

"This study highlights that the pace at which artemisinin resistance is spreading or emerging is alarming," said study co-author Philippe Guerin, director of the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network.

"We need a more vigorous international effort to address this issue in border regions."
The malaria parasite is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes.
It multiplies in the human liver and infects red blood cells, and can be deadly if untreated.
There have been two examples in history of malaria drugs becoming less effective due to the emergence of resistance -- costing millions of lives.
From the 1950s to 1970s, chloroquine-resistant parasites spread from Asia to Africa.
Chloroquine was replaced by sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), resistance to which emerged in western Cambodia and spread to Africa.
SP was then followed by artemisinin, a drug derived by Chinese scientists from a herb called sweet wormwood.

"The new research shows that history is repeating itself with parasites resistant to artemisinin drugs, the mainstay of modern malaria treatment, now widespread in Myanmar," said Mike Turner of the Wellcome Trust which co-funded the study.
"We are facing the imminent threat of resistance spreading into India, with thousands of lives at risk."
The team stressed there was no evidence that artemisinin resistance has indeed reached India, "however, few data are available".
The WHO has recommended artemisinin-only treatments be withdrawn from the market in favor of combination therapies to protect against the spread of resistance, but they remain available in many countries.

 

Simple Test May Predict If a Coma Patient Will Wake

Although researchers have made remarkable advances in studying comas and other disorders of consciousness, doctors say a great deal remains unknown. When a doctor walks into an exam room, for example, the tools available for determining the prognosis of a patient in a coma are limited -- and far from an exact science.
Now, researchers think they've found a measurement that will help doctors assess whether a patient will emerge from a coma.

“Coma is one of the most dreaded conditions,” Dr. Romer Geocadin, professor of neurology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and senior author of the new study, told Discovery News. “When patients are non-responsive from a traumatic brain injury or a stroke or tumor, for decades there’s been no real reliable marker of which patients will wake up.”
In fact, there are more reliable markers of which patients will do poorly, the researchers said.
“It’s been a one-way street,” Geocadin said.
That gave the researchers an idea: Using one of the most well-known tests for poor outcomes, they decided to test the reverse. In 1986, Dr. Allan Ropper discovered that a shift of the brain from its usual midline position is associated with loss of consciousness and poor outcome. Geocadin and lead author Robert Kowalski, a principal investigator at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, which specializes in spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, decided to measure whether patients whose brains shifted back toward midline had a better prognosis.

“No one had really looked at the converse; that's what we did,”  Kowalski told Discovery News.
Bryan Young, professor emeritus in the neurology department at Western University in Ontario, Canada, who was not involved in the research, called the idea to follow up on Ropper's work "simple but brilliant."
Using a year’s worth of data from new coma patients at the Neurosciences Critical Care Unit at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, the researchers not only discovered a strong association between deviation from normal brain symmetry and emerging from coma, but they were also able to pinpoint a measurement (6 millimeters) at which the association seemed to indicate improved outcome.
“The message is to (consider more than) one factor in trying to give a prognosis to a patient's family and approach to therapy,” Kowalski said. “When a patient comes in who is comatose, (clinicians can consider this and other factors in determining) what are the chances they will wake up and what should we do therapeutically?” Kowalski said.

Other factors associated with recovery include the patient’s age, the cause of the coma, and the depth of the coma ranked on the Glasgow Coma Scale. But even if those factors offer a poor prognosis, a less-than-6-millimeter shift in symmetry could trump the other variables, Kowalski said.
“It’s never 100 percent; every case is different,” he said. “But we think that the 6 millimeters is a good guideline to keep in mind.”

To quantify the shift, the researchers measured two areas in the brain: From the septum, located near the top of the head, down the center of the brain to determine the midline shift, and the pineal gland, located above the roof of the mouth, to determine side to side movement of the brain stem. In both cases, they found that for patients who had less than a 6-millimeter shift -- or if the displacement moved back to within 6 millimeters at a follow-up CT scan -- the association with awakening was strong (and if the shift grew, the patient was much less likely to waken.)
“The implications are that it gives options for treatments,” Geocadin said. “And we do have those treatments; we just didn’t know to what extent to push them.”
Current treatment protocol involves injecting the brain with a salty solution that’s known to push it back into position -- or surgical relief of pressure that encourages repositioning. Using the 6 millimeter designation should give clinicians guidance when using the techniques, the researchers said.
“It was like we were driving down the street without a speedometer,” Geocadin said. “Now we have a parameter.”
The emphasis in current practice, Young said, is to control cranial pressure, while surgery is usually reserved for life-saving situations. After reading the study, he said clinicians may need to be more aggressive in minimizing the midline shift, including using surgical measures.

"We've reserved it for extreme measures, but it could be used to improve outcomes as well," he said, noting that he hasn't seen the salt solution work as well as surgery to shift the brain.
A future study, he said, would be key to compare similar, randomized patients treated either with surgery or standard care.
One limitation of the study, Kowalski noted, was that they were not able to follow the patients after they left Johns Hopkins.
“The key thing to remember,” Geocadin said, “is unless the patient wakes up, everything else is a no-go. Once you start waking up, then you can start building.”

Vaping May Make Lungs More Vulnerable to Infection

Vaping has been sold as a safer way to smoke — a way to get a nicotine high without the harmful effects of tobacco and smoke inhalation. But new research shows that inhaling nicotine as a vapor through e-cigarettes may damage the lungs, making them vulnerable to infection.
It may also generate the same kinds of harmful chemicals that smoking produces, the research found — although at a smaller scale.
"Our findings suggest that e-cigarettes are not neutral in terms of the effects on the lungs," senior author Shyam Biswal, PhD, a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School, said in a press release.

For their research, scientists at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Health exposed mice to e-cigarette vapor in chambers. Levels of the vapor were measured to approximate the same levels of exposure for a person smoking e-cigarettes regularly for two weeks.
A second set of mice was exposed to normal air as a control. Then they tested to see how vulnerable each set of mice was to strains of pneumonia and sinusitis and Influenza A.
They found that those mice that had been exposed to e-cigarette vapor were much more likely to develop compromised immune responses to the viruses and bacteria than those mice that hadn’t been exposed to the vapors. In some cases mice with the compromised immune systems died from the infections.

"The e-cigarette exposure inhibited the ability of mice to clear the bacteria from their lungs, and the viral infection led to increased weight loss and death indicative of an impaired immune response," Thomas Sussan, PhD, lead author and an assistant scientist in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School explained in a press release.
The researchers say they believe this is the first study to test the effects of vaping on an animal model.  A study published recently in the journal Circulation on people suggested that e-cig vapors are high in nanoparticles that can trigger inflammation.
As part of their study, the Johns Hopkins researchers also tested e-cigarette vapor for the presence of free radicals — toxins found in cigarette smoke and air pollution. They found that e-cigarette vapor contains far fewer free radicals than cigarette smoke — 1 percent as much — but they were still present in e-cig vapors.
"We were surprised by how high that number was, considering that e-cigarettes do not produce combustion products," Sussan said. "Granted, it's 100 times lower than cigarette smoke, but it's still a high number of free radicals that can potentially damage cells."
As for U.S. regulation, the jury is still out on e-cigarettes — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last spring that it was going to begin regulating e-cigarettes. Studies like this one, which appeared in the Feb. 4 issue of PLOS ONE, will be critical as health officials decide if and how to regulate the relatively new devices.
While some have cited the positive effects of e-cigarettes — an October 2014 study showed that six months of vaping led 21 percent of participants to quit regular cigarettes,  there is also concern that more young people may be picking up the e-cigarette habit than would be starting traditional smoking.
A CDC report late last year showed the number of teens using e-cigs has tripled over two years.  And E-cigarette sales are projected to overtake cigarette sales in the next decade.

MMR Vaccine: Here is Exactly What is in It

When your 12- to 15-month old gets the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella shot, what exactly is in the vial?
As rumors about the vaccine spread faster than the measles itself, we take a look at each of the ingredients that make up the inoculation.
We asked Dr. Mark Schleiss, director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and Sean O'Leary, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, for the low-down on what makes up the MMR shot (including ingredients used to produce the vaccine that may be present in trace amounts).

Medium 199: This is the solution, developed in 1950, that allows the virus to grow. It contains amino acids, glucose, salt and vitamins.
Minimum Essential Medium: Containing electrolytes, glucose, and salt, the cell/s get bathed in this liquid to encourage them to grow. Trace amounts may remain in the vaccine.
Phosphate: An electrolyte that acts as a buffer in the vaccine. Phosphoric acid can be used as a preservative in foods, and it gives Coke its tartness, but we have phosphate in our bones, tissue, and blood.
Recombinant human albumin: The most abundant protein in human blood, albumin promotes the growth of the cells in cell cultures, and it stabilizes proteins and virus particles. "So if I purify 100 billion virus particles in my lab and stick them in a -80 degree freezer, when I thaw them six months later about 20 percent will be dead," Schleiss said. "But if I do the same experiment with albumin in it, the viruses will survive."
Neomycin: An antibiotic. If you've ever put a salve of Neosporin on a scraped knee, you've probably used about 140 times the amount of neomycin that's in the MMR, O'Leary calculated. It's present in vaccines to minimize any bacterial contamination of the tissue culture (it's used instead of an antibiotic such as penicillin or amoxicillin which have bigger resistance concerns).
Sorbitol: A sugar alcohol. It's naturally found in blackberries, raspberries, apples and other fruit. It's also used as a sweetener. "If you chew on a piece of sugarless gum, you swallow about a milligram's amount," Schleiss said. In the vaccine, it helps virus particles maintain their viability by stabilizing cell membranes, Schleiss said.
Hydrolyzed gelatin: Similar to what you might eat for dessert (without the artificial food dye), it helps hold everything together, "to stabilize the preparation so it's not too droopy," Schleiss said. Some parents, O'Leary said, express concerns that certain ingredients may be OK to eat but not injected. However, the amount that's injected is a fraction of what would be ingested orally.
Chick embryo cell culture: Cells of live viruses are often grown in cells of other species in order to "elicit the immune response but not cause the disease," Schleiss said. "The virus in the measles vaccine your child gets has somewhere in the range of 50-75 mutations and multiple different genes that make it unable to cause the disease." An 18th-century English country doctor discovered this when he realized that milkmaids, who were exposed to cowpox, seemed to be immune to the human version -- smallpox.
WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts: While the measles and mumps viruses can be grown in the cells of chick embryos, rubella can only grow in cells of human origin, Schleiss said. The cells used here originated from two terminated pregnancies in the early 1960s, and have reproduced in laboratories since then. Although that poses an ethical dilemma for some, the National Catholic Bioethics Center says "One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them."
Water: The bulk of the liquid in that half-milliliter vial is water.

Baby Born Pregnant with Her Own Siblings

A baby born in Hong Kong was pregnant with her own siblings at the time of her birth, according to a new report of the infant's case. 

The baby's condition, known as fetus-in-fetu, is incredibly rare, occurring in only about 1 in every 500,000 births. It's not clear exactly why it happens.
"Weird things happen early, early in the pregnancy that we just don't understand," said Dr. Draion Burch, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Pittsburgh, who goes by Dr. Drai. "This is one of those medical mysteries."

The World Health Organization considers a tiny fetus found within an infant to be a kind of teratoma, or tumor, rather than a normally developing fetus. (Seeing Double: 8 Fascinating Facts About Twins)
But the doctors who treated the baby girl wrote that rather than a teratoma, the tiny fetuses may instead be the remains of sibling twins that were absorbed during the pregnancy.
The newborn baby was referred to Dr. Yu Kai-man, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong, because the baby was suspected to have a tumor, according to the case report. The mother's prenatal ultrasound had revealed an unusual mass within the infant, but it was unclear to the doctors exactly what the mass was. During surgery, which was done when the girl was about 3 weeks old, the surgeons discovered two fetuses between her liver and her kidney.
One fetus weighed 0.3 ounces (9.3 grams) and the other 0.5 ounces (14.2 grams) — corresponding to about 8 and 10 weeks' gestation, the case report said.
Each of the babies had an umbilical cord that linked to a placenta-like mass in the girl's belly.
The baby girl was obviously too young to have conceived the fetuses herself. Instead, it's likely that the girl was once one of triplets, the researchers said. Then, for some mysterious reason, the two smaller fetuses were absorbed into the body of the remaining child.

The fetuses would likely have still been alive and growing when they were absorbed into the surviving baby's body. Once there, however, their development couldn't proceed normally, Burch said. 

"They need placental flow and all that other stuff to really grow," Burch told Live Science.

Fetus-in-fetu may, in fact, be similar to a surprisingly common phenomenon: vanishing twin syndrome, Burch said. In many twin pregnancies, one of the twins is completely absorbed and "vanishes" into the body of the other.
"When you do a delivery and you see an extra placenta and a cord, you say, 'Oh, it must have been a twin,'" Burch said.
Fetus-in-fetu has been reported in about 200 cases in the medical literature. In 2006, doctors in Pakistan removed two fetuses from a 2-month-old girl named Nazia, according to NBC News. And in 2011, an 18-year-old boy had his retained twin removed in a major surgery, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
In rare instances, fetuses that die in utero can become calcified and turn into stone. In August 2014, doctors in India removed a lithopedion, or stone baby, that a 60-year-old woman had carried in her body for 36 years. She went to the doctor complaining of abdominal pain and a lump in her lower belly.

Second Bird Flu Case in Human in Canada

 

 

Researchers test a chicken carcass for bird flu.
Thinkstock
The husband of a Canadian who was diagnosed earlier this week with bird flu after returning from a trip to China has also tested positive for the virus, health officials said Friday.
The couple in their 50s began feeling sick days after returning home in westernmost British Columbia province.
Tests confirmed the first human case of H7N9 bird flu in North America in the woman on Monday. Her husband's diagnosis was confirmed three days later.

"Since both cases became symptomatic one day apart, it is likely they were exposed to a common source, rather than one having been infected by the other," said Canada's chief public health officer, Gregory Taylor.
Neither patient required hospitalization and both are recovering in self-isolation at home from their illness, said officials.

During an outbreak in China two years ago there were fears it could mutate to become easily transmissible between people, threatening a global pandemic.
But Chinese officials and the World Health Organization have said there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, despite occasional instances of apparent infection between family members.
Since March 2013, China has recorded 281 deaths and 470 cases of H7N9.

 

 

 

10 Reasons You Have a Runny Nose

It's quite common, yet highly annoying -- a runny nose. Your nose drips when your nasal tissues and blood vessels produce excess fluid or mucus, according to the Mayo Clinic. This excess fluid also runs down the back of your throat in the dreaded post-nasal drip. Sometimes you'll have nasal congestion along with your runny nose, but not always.

Sniff, blow, wipe…sniff, blow, wipe…It's the seemingly endless cycle of a runny nose.

Dozens of things can cause your nose to run, from a variety of allergies and illnesses to more serious conditions like a deviated septum. Certain medications, stress and even pregnancy can also cause a runny nose. Sometimes the condition indicates a life-threatening problem, especially if you've suffered a head injury or trauma to the brain.
So, how do you know if your runny nose means you've got a problem? In the past, it was thought that thin, clear mucus meant you weren't too sick, while thick, greenish-yellow mucus meant you should haul it to the doctor. That's not necessarily true. You can have clear mucus and be quite ill and colored mucus when you have a viral infection for which antibiotics won't help a bit. In general though, runny noses are a temporary condition and will clear up on their own.
Read on to learn about why your nose may be mimicking a leaky faucet.

10 Foreign Object in the Nose

This is mainly an issue with young children between 1 and 8 years old who jam something up a nostril, such as a bean, pea, pebble or paper, according to eMedicine Health. Luckily, it's relatively easy to diagnose -- either the child will tell you what he did, or you may notice a discharge (often foul-smelling) from one nostril.
If you suspect your child has something in his nose, see if he can blow it out. If not, it's best to get him to the doctor immediately. Don't try to pull the object out yourself or push it down into his throat; that can do more harm than good. If it's nighttime when you notice the object, it might be OK to wait until morning to call your physician since most cases aren't life-threatening. However, if your child put a battery in his nose -- or food, which will swell in the nostril's moist environment -- call right away.
While most cases of foreign bodies occur in little kids, older children and adults can get objects lodged in their nasal cavities, too, if they fall or are struck in the face.

9 Environmental Irritants

our nose will run if it's irritated, and some noses are more susceptible to some irritants than others. Environmental irritants such as pollution, dust and tobacco smoke -- even chemicals and perfumes -- are common causes of a runny nose. Unfortunately, you can't always avoid these things, especially if you live in a smoggy city or with a smoker. Still, there are things you can do to help.
Keep your nasal passages moist with saline spray or by using a Neti pot. Running a humidifier can help, too, although you need to make sure it's clean so it's not pumping irritants into the air along with its soothing mist. And drinking plenty of fluids will ensure your sinuses stay moist, among other benefits.
If you know something irritates your nose, avoid it altogether if possible.

8 Nonallergic Rhinitis

Some people have chronically drippy noses, yet there's nothing wrong with them. Well, other than the fact that they have what's called nonallergic rhinitis. This means your nose runs a lot for no good reason. Sufferers also typically sneeze a lot and may have nasal congestion (when their nose isn't dripping). The symptoms are similar to hay fever, except the person isn't allergic to anything.
Both kids and adults can have nonallergic rhinitis, although it's more common after age 20, according to the Mayo Clinic. To be properly diagnosed, you may have to first go through allergy testing or blood work. If you are diagnosed with it, try to identify triggers that make your symptoms worse, and then avoid them. While they vary among sufferers, triggers are often certain odors, medications, foods or changes in the weather. Keeping your nasal passages moist by rinsing them out may also help.

7 Cold Temperatures

Whose nose doesn't drip when you're out in the cold? This common situation occurs when cold, dry air irritates your nasal lining. Your nose's glands respond by pumping out more mucus than normal to keep it moist so the lining doesn't dry out.
But don't assume the chilly temps are the sole reason your nose is drippy. Colds and upper respiratory infections are common in winter. In fact, it's a person can have multiple colds in a row. So it might be the cold, or you might have a cold -- or both.

6 Measles and Rubella

Measles, also called rubeola, is an infection caused by a virus. It mostly strikes children. By 2000, according to the Mayo Clinic, measles were pretty much eliminated in the U.S., thanks to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. But measles is on the rise again, as increasing numbers of parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids.
If you or your child has contracted measles, your initial symptoms will likely be a mild to moderate fever along with a cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes and sore throat. Then the rash, consisting of small, red spots, appears, and it's easy to see what's going on.
Rubella, once called German measles, is also a contagious viral infection that causes a spotty, red rash. Luckily, it's not as infectious or as serious as measles, which can be fatal for small children. Symptoms also include a mild to moderate fever, runny nose and inflamed eyes, as well as enlarged lymph nodes and aching joints. The rash is much finer than the spots you get with measles.
The MMR vaccine is highly effective in preventing rubella and measles, but if you do contract one or the other, there is no cure; you must let the infections run their course. You can alleviate some of the symptoms through over-the-counter medicines, mainly fever reducers.

5 Influenza (Flu)

Influenza, or the flu, can be a serious illness, especially in the young, old and those with compromised immune systems. A runny nose can seem like the least of your worries; yet, a runny nose can be the first sign that you're ill.
The flu is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system, which includes your nose, throat and lungs. Often, your first symptoms are a runny nose, lots of sneezing and maybe a sore throat. But the difference is that with a minor cold, these symptoms will develop slowly over a few days and never amount to much more. With influenza, these symptoms will generally start abruptly and quickly escalate to include a high fever, headache, muscle soreness, fatigue and weakness.
As with most viral infections, influenza has to run its course. But you may be able to make yourself more comfortable through some over-the-counter fever reducers. Your doctor may also prescribe an antiviral medication that may shorten the illness by a day or two.

4 Sinusitis

Roughly 37 million Americans have at least one sinusitis attack annually, according to WebMD. And they're not fun. Sinusitis is an irritation, swelling or infection of the tissue lining the sinuses. The illness typically causes facial pain and pressure; nasal stuffiness or discharge, often coupled with post-nasal drip; loss of smell; and a cough. Sometimes patients develop a fever and their teeth ache, due to the pressure in the sinus cavities above.
When infection is present, you'll often have a thick, yellow or green nasal discharge along with some of the other symptoms mentioned above. Head to the doctor; you'll need an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. Besides prescribing an antibiotic to take care of the bacterial infection, your doctor may prescribe nasal sprays, nose drops or an oral decongestant medicine to relieve the symptoms.

3 Pet Allergies

Unfortunately, pet allergies are among the most common types of allergies. When you're allergic to a particular pet -- say, a dog or cat -- you're not allergic to its fur. Your body is most likely reacting to its dander, or the tiny skin scales animals continually shed. If you own a pet, these scales will be everywhere, but especially in carpeting and upholstery. Some people don't have a problem with dander, but instead are allergic to an animal's saliva, particularly cat saliva.
Typical allergic reactions to a pet are a runny nose, sneezing and watering eyes, a rash, coughing or breathing difficulties, hives, and itching in the nose, eyes, throat or skin. To avoid setting off your allergies, don't own the type of pet you're allergic to, or keep the pet outside, if possible. If the pet is allowed inside, try to keep him out of your bedroom and off upholstered furniture and carpets. Installing wood, tile or vinyl flooring instead of carpet also helps. Frequent bathing and grooming of the pet may help keep dander under control. Having a pet dander allergy may also mean you can't wear wool.
If your allergy is severe, you may need allergy shots to keep it under control.

2 Hay Fever

Seemingly more prevalent than pet allergies are pollen allergies, typically known as hay fever. Hay fever is in play from spring through fall, as trees, weeds and grasses emit miniscule pollen grains into the air. Everyone breathes in some of these grains, and for most people it's no big deal. But if you're allergic to a particular type of pollen, you'll have an allergic reaction.
As with pet allergies, symptoms include a runny nose, sneezing, coughing and itching in the eyes, nose and throat. Post-nasal drip is also common, as are dark circles under the eyes.
Try to relieve your symptoms by rinsing out your nasal passages and taking over-the-counter medicines recommended by your doctor. Allergy shots also may be helpful. Sidebar: Are Nasal Sprays Really Addictive?
The short answer is no, but they're not harmless either. You candevelop what's called a rebound effect: If you use the spray too many days in a row, your body panics and begins to work against it, which means it soon takes more sprays, or more frequent sprays, to clear your nose. It could take a few weeks to a month or so of not using the spray to return to normal.

1 Common Cold

Ah, the common cold. That minor, yet annoying, ailment for which there is no cure. The common cold is by far the main cause of a runny nose. No wonder; there are more than 1 billion colds in the U.S. each year, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The most common symptoms of a cold, besides a runny nose, are nasal congestion, a scratchy throat, sneezing and, occasionally, a low fever.
The common cold is technically a viral respiratory infection, meaning antibiotics won't get rid of it. To alleviate symptoms, get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids. Chicken soup isn't a bad idea, either; its heat, fluid and salt may help you fight the virus. While vitamin C doesn't prevent colds, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, research shows people who consume it regularly seem to have slightly shorter colds and milder symptoms.
Protect yourself from getting a cold in the first place by washing your hands frequently and steering clear of sick people who are coughing and sneezing a lot. It's also not a bad idea to regularly clean surfaces such as doorknobs, computer keyboards and phone earpieces with antibacterial wipes.