Science offers some answers, but individual cultures hold others, which often sharply differ from people to people, says a University of South Florida anthropologist studying illness beliefs through a National Science Foundation grant. Conn. With Susan Weller at the University of Texas medical campus in Galveston, she will research the beliefs of lay people and physicians. Many Latinos in the study also agreed that walking on a cold floor without shoes, getting wet when you are sweating, and eating or drinking icy things when one is sweating can cause a cold. It'll be interesting to see if this idea that you can get colds through the bottoms of your feet is shared by doctors. American doctors, like many lay people, believe that flu is accompanied by vomiting, fever, crankiness and reduced activity and appetite, she said.
Flu is a folk illness.
It's nothing like influenza, which is a respiratory illness. Spanish-speaking people have no labels for the flu, but once introduced to American society, they learn about it, Baer said. Among Guatemalan Latinos, Weller found that terms for colds and the flu overlap. In each city, the group surveyed shared their beliefs about the causes, symptoms and treatments of a cold. Some Guatemalans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans living in Connecticut also believed that breathing smoke, air pollution, living in an unclean house and dust and dirt might cause a cold.