The Coconino sun., 1917-02-23
GOVERNMENT EXPERTS
 AGA|NST "COMM0N C0lOS'

disease group included under one name and considered of such minor importance that vital statistics do not record the enormous number of per sons who annually are subjected to suffering, inconvenience, and economic loss thereby. Remarkable as 1t may seem, the widespread familiarity with this condition has bred contempt which hides its seriousness, yet when the sum total of the ravages commit ted by common colds is made, it be- comes evident that instead of being of trivial affections, common colds must be classed as serious diseases.
 The phrase "common colds" like charity" covers a multitude of sani- tary sins, and curiously enough, the name has been applied to group of affections which far from depending absolutely on cold are frequently the direct result of living in close, over heated surroundings having a lower re- lative humidity than the dryest desert known to man.
 The word "colds" means an acute infection of the lining membranes of the nose, tonsils, throat and larger bronchial tubes. The process may be even more extensive and amount to general infection of the entire body. All of the breathing apparatus ex- cepting the smaller terminal portions in the lungs may be involved, and as a matter of fact the disease may, and often does, spread to these, thus pro- ducing pneumonia. In this connection it may be pointed out that pneumonia kills more people in the United States than any other disease excepting tu- berculosis and heart disease. Many pneumonias begin as a common cold. Colds do not produce tuberculosis, yet unfortunately what is considered as cold may be in reality the first symp- toms of the white plague.
 The causes of colds are multiform and not entirely understood. In every case, however, they are dependent upon the growth and activity of living germs which are always received from other people. It is true, that almost everybody harbors disease or ganisms in the mouth and nose, and that these under favorable conditions will produce a cold in their host. But these germs in every case were re- ceiyed from some other person. In other words, colds are infectious. It used to be thought that sitting in a draft or a prolonged stay in the swimming pool would produce a cold. This is erroneous, but the chilling of the body which the draft produces and the weakening of the vital forces caused by too long a swim, lower the powers of resistance and permit germs which have hitherto been harmless to their host, to produce their disastrous effects.
 It is not necessary to describe a cold. Everybody is familiar with It in all it's variations, from the simple ordinary coryza, which is polite running at the nose, to the sore throat, the aching chest, fever, and generally knocked out" feeling. The cough, the sneeze, the headache and the vary ing degrees of inefficiency which a cold produces, are, alas, only too well known. Common colds occur in epid- emics and are distinctly contagious. They sweep through an entire house. hold, an entire city, an entire state, attacking the young, the adolescent, the middle aged, and frequently car rying off the aged, the weak and the debilitated. Schools, factories, stores are suddenly crippled by epidemics Of this sort and the complications and serious disorders following the disease add to the great economic loss pro- duced in this way. Infection of the CdVlLleS Denedtl tilt Cuccho anu ph""Ss ear heterogeneous, chronic lung infec- tions, rheumatism, heart disorders, kidney impairment and depressed vitality may all follow in the train of this widespread infection.
 To prevent a cold it is necessary first of all to keep the body resistance at high point of efficiency. This means that the body machinery should be kept in good order at all times. Good wholesome food in proper amount, plenty of sleep, the careful attendance to the voiding of the body wastes, the taking of regular exercise in the open air, keeping the body clean, keeping the mouth and nose clean, the avoidance of hot, stuffy, dusty rooms. the avoidance of ex- posture to sudden changes of temper ature, the prevention of the chilling of the body either by cold or wet, are all nrotective measures If should he