Common cold
The main indicators of the common cold are a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, coughing or a sore throat and blocked ears, sometimes including mild fever and coloured mucus or discharge as well.
As there are so many different strains, there is no vaccination but human bodies can usually fight off the infection within a week or so.
At this time of year, general practitioners are inundated with calls and requests for house visits, but the problem lies in trying to persuade their patients that there is no quick fix.
Even if the Queen has the same infection, there still would be no remedy, one GP tells people who ask for unnecessary antibiotics.
He says difficult patients fall into two broad categories: those who insist on a prescription for drugs they do not need, and those who are reluctant to take the medication the GP orders. While they will not speed up recovery from a cold, in some cases patients develop a secondary bacterial infection that needs antibiotic treatment.
The GP says four out five patients are cooperative and although the islands still have one of the highest antibiotic consumption rates in Europe, the number of Maltese who take them without a prescription has dropped from 19 per cent to four per cent over 10 years.
For the remaining ‘uncooperative’ 20 per cent, doctors must argue against strongly held opinions such as “my cold drags on without antibiotics” or a placebo effect brought on by simply taking certain medicines, regardless of actual impact.
Seasonal flu
Things are different with seasonal influenza. Symptoms last longer, are much worse and include sudden high fever, muscle aches, loss of appetite, shivering, sweating and a dry – rather than phlegmy – cough. These can leave sufferers feeling exhausted and physically unable to move far.
It can be caught all year round, but is especially common in winter, hence the name.
Symptoms take up to three days to manifest and sufferers are usually capable of infecting others a day before they start feeling ill and for up to a week afterwards. Children and people with weaker immune systems stay infectious for longer.
For usually healthy people the best treatment is rest, plenty of fluid and paracetamol or ibuprofen to ease aches.
However, seasonal flu is considered dangerous due to the possibility of patients developing complications, which can lead to bacterial pneumonia (inflammation of the lung), ear infections, sinus infections, dehydration and worsening of chronic medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, asthma or diabetes.
Even if the Queen has a cold, there still would be no remedy
In some cases it may require hospital treatment and could even be fatal for highly-vulnerable individuals.
These include: children under five and people over 55; those with chronic heart, liver, respiratory or kidney disease; people with diabetes and anyone suffering a chronic immunodeficient state such as HIV or Aids.
The Health Ministry began its campaign against seasonal influenza by offering vaccinations free of charge to people in these categories in October last year.
It said that a record 75,200 jabs were administered, using up all its supply for winter 2013.
PANDEMICS
In recent years there have been fears about particularly virulent, ‘pandemic’ flu types that spread rapidly between carriers and create global epidemics, particularly avian flu and swine flu. Last week, the World Health Organisation confirmed a fresh surge of one fatal type of avian flu in China while, in North America, small numbers of people have died from swine flu this month. These influenzas are named after the animals in which they originated before being passed on to humans.
Avian flu
Most types of avian (bird) flu do not harm humans, but in the past 20 years two strains have been known to cause deaths. H5N1 emerged in 1997 and H7N9 in March 2013: so far, the latter has only been reported in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
From 2003 to July 2013, the WHO confirmed there were human cases of H5N1 in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
Signs of bird flu include all those of seasonal flu, plus occasionally vomiting, diarrhoea, chest and/or abdominal pain and bleeding from the nose and gums.
Victims may quickly develop severe breathing problems and potentially fatal complications such as multiple organ failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, unless you have been physically close to someone with confirmed avian flu for an extended period, or touched any birds in an area where outbreaks have been reported – such as regions of China – you are highly unlikely to have contracted either strain.
It is rare, but not unknown, for H5N1 to spread from person to person; however, most cases were transmitted from bird to human.
Avian flu cannot be spread through eating poultry, although visiting markets containing infected birds is a risk as people can breathe in droplets of the virus sneezed into the air.
Swine flu
This virus emerged in 2009, claiming lives around the world, including Malta, and prompting a rush for a vaccination that led to some doubts about whether the jab had been sufficiently tested.
The pandemic of H1N1 influenza, as swine flu is also known, was declared officially over in 2010 by the WHO, but it has not completely vanished as the recent deaths in Canada and the US show.
Despite the initial panic, most people who contracted swine flu recovered: the majority of people who died had a pre-existing condition that had weakened their immune system.
Symptoms are very similar to other types of influenza, particularly a high temperature of more than 30˚C.
Unlike bird flu, this virus is easily passed between people, so it is extra important to take the precautions against spreading infection such as regular hand-washing, coughing and sneezing into a tissue and regularly cleaning surfaces.
People who are concerned their symptoms are serious enough to indicate swine flu should contact their GP rather than go to the hospital or health centre.