Cold gets common in the capital

Increasing number of patients complaining of the viral disease in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: With the sudden change in weather, a large number of people complaining of the common cold are visiting the hospitals of the capital. Health specialists explained that it was a viral disease which had spread from one infected person to another.

Common symptoms for this include cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever, experts said. Spokesperson for Polyclinic Hospital Dr Sharif Astori said that about 200 to 250 patients suffering from the disease are visiting the hospital daily, majority of whom are younger people.

Similarly, Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist at Capital Development Authority Hospital Dr Jawad Ahmed said that out of 100 patients visiting the hospital daily, around 25 per cent complained of common cold.

A professor of the ENT department at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) added that around 200 patients of the disease were visiting the hospital daily.

These officials said that people who did not cover themselves properly with warm clothes while going outside, especially at night and early in the morning, were more vulnerable. Taking cold fluids like chilled water or sitting in air-conditioned rooms were other factors.

School-going children were more prone to this disease as they easily catch it from one another, they added.

Experts suggest that the best way to cure the ailment is by including warm fluids like soups, broths, tea, green tea and coffee in regular diet.

Arif Mehmood, Director General of Meteorological department said after the recent rain, minimum temperature in the capital dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, marking the arrival of winter.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2010.