A very sick winter

[nancylebov]

I got through alright, but it seems as though my social circle had many more people sick for more days (sometimes weeks) than is at all typical. Flus, bad colds, bronchitis, nameless cruds.....and with no obvious explanation. Afaik, the problems with the flu vaccine didn't have much to do with it--at least some of the illness wasn't flu, and I haven't heard people saying that if only they been able to get the shot, they'd have been ok.

My default explanation for cruds is temperature swings--it seems as though when the temperature varies from near-freezing to almost balmy in a day, people get sick. I'm not sure whether it's just rough on people for the temperature to vary that much, or if the high odds of not wearing the right gear mean that people get chilled and/or overheated. In any case, there haven't been enough temperature swings around here (at least) to explain the crud level. Any alternate theories?

Comments

[madfilkentist]

My own theory -- hypothesis -- guess, backed by nothing, is that it's dry winter air making membranes more vulnerable to infection. Temperatures vary just as much in summer, and I've heard of experiments in which chilling people failed to increase the incidence of colds. There's also the popular theory that people crowd together more in winter; but if this is true, there should be more cruds in urban than in rural areas. I don't know whether this is the case or not but tend to doubt it.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

That's got some plausibility, though it seems to me that people are generally more likely to get sick in the spring than the winter. Also, it doesn't explain this year, assuming that I've noticed a real uptick. Maybe it's just that I'm reading more ljs and hearing about more people's illnesses.

As for dry air, it's been a mild winter around here, so I'd think that indoor air isn't quite as dry.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

There's always the theory that warm or open (i.e., not-so-snowy) winters are worse for illnesses than cold ones, because with the warmer weather and diminished snowfall, people get out more and spread the germs around more efficiently (from the germs' point of view, anyhow.)

[zenlizard]

Theories abound. You don't have a need to know.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm pretty sure I got so sick because I did too much con going and flying too soon after major surgery. My immune system was stressed and depressed by the surgery and couldn't cope with the nasties it ordinarily shrugs off. I doubt, however, this holds true for many people you know.

MKK--my story and I'm sticking to it -- and while I'm thinking of it I've adopted "I'm not pompous. I'm pedantic. Let me explain it to you." as the subtitle of my blog. Do I need to give you credit? Or did you get it from someone else?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Several someone elses. A customer came up with the first two sentences. A second customer came up with the third. papersky substituted a semi-colon for the first period.

I'm not the originator, I'm the environment. Nonetheless, I'm glad you like it that much, with or without the semi-colon.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I thought about the semi-colon but decided to leave it the way it was. Though, perhaps the other way is more pedantic. Hmm.

MKK

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I spent literally the majority of days during January and February being some degree of sick, with too many days too sick to work. And it seemed to me that a lot of people were complaining of the same things I had, particularly a rhinovirus that lasted much longer than a common cold and a gastrointestinal thing that lasted a couple-three days but really knocked you out. As you say, neither was the flu. I'd guess that just as some years the flu is worse than others', this year just happened to brew up somewhat more potent nasties than usual. I'd also bet that there's an ongoing process of increased travel spreading "minor" as well as major viruses even more effectively around the globe.