GETTING OVER THE SNIFFLES

These are the times that try our noses. And throats. And heads.

Ah, this winter of our discontent.

Some of the more than 200 viruses that cause our noses to drip like leaky faucets, our throats to feel like they're lined with wool, are likely to overcome our body's defense system at least once this time of the year. The result: the common cold.

According to some estimates, Americans suffer 1 billion colds a year. Scientists probably know more about the rhinovirus, which causes about 30 to 35 percent of colds, than any other virus.

Yet colds remain the incurable enigma they are, and will probably remain so for a long time. Colds will continue to be a leading cause of doctor visits and missed school and work.

"We're a lot busier this winter. That's for sure," says Dr. James Kinder of the Rural Health Clinic.

Most colds occur during fall and winter. Although exposure to cold has little or no relation to the development or severity of a cold, according to the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), cold weather forces people to stay indoors, which may put them in close contact with others who could spread viruses.

Also, most common cold-causing viruses thrive when humidity is low in colder months, and cold weather may make nasal passages drier and more susceptible to viral infections.

A vital life function -- breathing -- is partly to blame for the malady. While the function of mucus is to trap foreign particles that we breathe in, viruses can sometimes penetrate mucus and enter cells. Our bodies then react to this invasion with the familiar cold symptoms.

A cold virus can also be transmitted by touching the eyes or nose with hands that have come into contact with a virus.

While the NIAID has found that exercise, diet and enlarged tonsils or adenoids have no relation with colds, psychological stress, menstrual cycles, and allergic disorders affecting the nasal passages or pharynx may be contributors.

So what can you do? Choices are limited.

"We don't have much to offer," Kinder says "for the cold as such, the virus infection. It usually has to run its course."

That course is typically one week. If the cold persists, it may be a more serious bacterial infection.

In the meantime, the symptoms of the cold can be treated to reduce suffering while we wait for it to exit.

The NIAID recommends bed rest, drinking plenty of fluids, gargling warm salt water, using petroleum jelly on an irritated nose and taking aspirin to relieve headache or fever. Inhaling steam may also provide some relief.

Non-prescription decongestants and cough suppressants may provide some relief, but have no effect on the illness and can bring with them unwanted side effects.

Antihistamines generally have no effect on colds, and antibiotics shouldn't be used because they don't kill viruses.

Among the alternative treatments are vitamin C and zinc.

"Vitamin C has been kicking around for years and years," Kinder says. "You'll find some people that swear by it, and some people that don't think it makes much difference. I'm not sure about it.

"And zinc is the same thing. Zinc is a very recent thing. But those darn lozenges taste horrible. They are just hard to get down."

Charles Lastrapes, a family physician at Cross Trails Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, says some studies have shown that zinc lozenges cut the duration of a cold in half, but the jury is still out.

The NIAID reports that no conclusive data shows that vitamin C has any effect on colds. Also, taking vitamin C in large doses can be harmful.

The best way to keep from getting a cold is to wash your hands. Don't touch your eyes and nose. Sneeze or cough into a facial tissue and discard it immediately. Try to avoid close contact with people with colds. And clean the surfaces of your house with a virus-killing disinfectant.

Take these precautions, because no cure is in sight. And since about half of the cold-causing viruses have not been identified, a vaccine cannot be developed.

Therefore, maybe we should view the illness as just another part of life. As Susan Sontag wrote, "Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick."

Hopefully your stay in the latter kingdom won't last more than a week.