Respiratory disease strikes again

The recent wave of violent respiratory diseases is essentially a high incidence of mixed infections caused by the alternating circulation of multiple pathogens. There is no need to panic excessively and stock up on medicines and ventilators, nor can it be treated as a common cold. The response methods of different groups of people vary greatly, and there is no universal "standard answer".

Just like seasonal changes in clothes can never keep up with the weather changes, this year's respiratory pathogens have also come together for "team building". You sing and I come on stage. Last week, I accompanied my best friend to take my baby, who had a fever of 39 degrees Celsius, to the pediatric emergency room. After waiting in line for three hours, we found out that among the dozen or so patients in front of us, half were positive for influenza A and half were infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae. There was also an aunt in her 60s who accompanied her husband. The two of them had been coughing for almost a week and thought it was chronic illness. After a check, it was respiratory syncytial virus combined with mild pneumonia.

The most quarrelsome arguments on the Internet right now are two arguments. One group says that if you have a fever and cough, you must go to the hospital immediately for a full blood test and CT scan. If it becomes serious, it will be too late to regret it. The other group says that the hospital is now full of patients. You will be infected even if you are sick. As long as you can eat, sleep and feel good, you can stay at home without taking any medicine. To be honest, both of these statements are reasonable, but they really cannot apply to everyone.

The recent national respiratory infectious disease surveillance data from the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention is clear: the top five currently prevalent pathogens are influenza virus, rhinovirus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, and adenovirus. Among them, the detection rate of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children under 14 years old has dropped for three consecutive weeks. On the contrary, the detection rate of influenza and syncytial virus in the elderly over 65 years old is slowly rising.

A young man born in 1998 in our company was found to be mycoplasma positive last week. He had a fever of 38.7. He took no medicine except ibuprofen. He lay at home for five days and had no problems except an occasional dry cough. When he came back to work, he showed off to us that he had survived the infection by "drinking more hot water." But Dr. Zhang at the community hospital downstairs saw a 72-year-old man last week. He had underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He had a fever of only 37.8 at the beginning. He felt that he was strong and had been carrying it for three days. When he came for treatment, his blood oxygen had dropped to 92, so he was transferred to the respiratory department of a higher-level hospital that day.

In fact, there is no need to ignore different diagnosis and treatment ideas. The conventional advice of Western medicine is that young adults with no underlying diseases, whose body temperature does not exceed 38.5, and who are in a good mental state, can be observed at home. They can use antipyretics and cough medicines for symptomatic treatment, and take antibiotics if they are not needed. After all, antibiotics are useless for most viral infections. I have tried the conditioning methods of traditional Chinese medicine myself and it is indeed effective. Last week, my mother went to a public traditional Chinese medicine hospital near my home to prescribe anti-sense soup, which contains reed root, Imperata cognac root, patchouli and tangerine peel. Our whole family drank it for almost a week, and colleagues and friends around us drank half of it. No one in our family fell into the disease. There are also many elderly people who have suffered from bronchitis all year round who insist on wearing the 39 patch, saying that they have not suffered from the old problem of coughing this winter. These plans given by regular medical institutions can be chosen as needed.

Seriously, don’t hoard medicines blindly. My best friend’s house currently has 3 boxes of oseltamivir, 4 boxes of azithromycin and two boxes of moxifloxacin. It’s a complete waste of money. Oseltamivir is a prescription drug. It is only effective if taken within 48 hours after being diagnosed with influenza. Azithromycin cannot be taken casually. My neighbor's baby upstairs was afraid that he would be infected in kindergarten. His parents were afraid that he would be infected in kindergarten, so they fed him half a bag of Azith every day as a "prevention." As a result, he had diarrhea for two days after taking it for three days. In the end, he went to the hospital and was prescribed probiotics. The gain outweighed the loss.

Don’t be overly exaggerated when wearing a mask. You can take it off to get some fresh air when you are walking outdoors where there are few people on your way to and from work. You can just put it on when you go to a closed place with a lot of people, such as the subway or hospital. Ordinary medical masks are enough for protection. You don’t need to wear an N95 all day long. If you get acne all over your face, it will lower your immunity.

In fact, respiratory diseases come back every autumn and winter. This year, it is just the combination of multiple pathogens that makes the disease particularly powerful. Don’t be so frightened that you can’t sleep well after hearing about “white lung” or “super virus” spread on the Internet. Don’t be so worried that you still carry yourself to work and school with a fever of 39 degrees and infect your colleagues and classmates. Pay more attention to the status of yourself and your family. It’s better than anything else.