Clean Bite: Are We Paying Enough Attention to Colds, Flu, and COVID-19?

Cold, Flu, RSV, and COVID-19: Are We Still Paying Attention?

Last week, I had a longtime friend cancel a meeting because she was recovering from COVID-19 and had been down and out for the entire week. The world has almost forgotten this one exists! There isn’t really anything unusual in this, except to say, she works from home and has limited outside exposure and still got the dreaded bug.

This got me thinking about not only COVID-19, but we are in the midst of cold and influenza (flu) season across the country. I would like to think that we learned some valuable lessons from the worldwide pandemic of 2020 that are still implemented today, but alas, this writer doesn’t think so.

I know in my house we no longer disinfect doorknobs or wipe down our groceries when we come home from the store, and don’t even get me started on mask usage. Gone are the days when it was commonplace to see everyone with a mask, and now those who still protect themselves are looked at like crazy folks waiting for the next worldwide catastrophe to hit.

There are so many drug company commercials in our lives that unless you are living under a rock and unplugged completely, we know that COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu, and even the common cold are alive and going strong.

So, I’d like to discuss a couple of things in this article.

1. How do you know the difference between these bugs that can wreck your week and interrupt that special Valentine’s dinner your honey has planned?

• Steps that you can take to protect yourself, your team, and the patients you serve daily.

Let’s Talk About Contagious Respiratory Illnesses

Most respiratory illnesses are airborne viruses (although some could be bacterial) and have been known to pose significant public health concerns due to their contagious nature.

According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases,

“Symptoms of influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Covid-19 are similar and may include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Because the symptoms are similar, it can be difficult to distinguish between illnesses caused by respiratory viruses. To diagnose a potential case, health care professionals my use a diagnostic test.”

To make it even worse, some of the symptoms can overlap , making it even harder to self-diagnose. Let’s be real here for a moment, we always start with an OTC cold medicine, thinking it will do the trick, pull up our big-girl pants, and head to work.

What does this mean for the members of your own household, your team, and those 477 patients on the schedule for today?

Well, good news for dental teams is that we routinely mask up for all procedures involving overspray in the dental office. It’s just our norm. But we do (ok… should) remove that mask when leaving the operatory to go and get a missed supply or dropped instrument replacement, along with walking the patient up to the front desk to check out. Those are the times when we are spreading our cooties to the world around us. Even though that good swig of DayQuil is helping you get through the day, there are points when you are still very contagious.

So how can you tell the difference and know when to seek medical attention?

Going back to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, let’s break the symptoms down.

• Aches: All can give you the achy breaky heart, but this symptom is rare with RSV
• Difficulty Breathing: A head cold or flu can make it difficult to breathe due to head congestion, but doesn’t routinely affect lung function, whereas COVID-19 is for sure affecting the lungs, and even RSV makes breathing difficult.
• Fatigue: I don’t know about you, but when I have a head cold, I’m exhausted just trying to breathe through all that mucus. Not everyone will experience fatigue with a cold. The flu, COVID-19, and sometimes RSV can really put a girl down for the count for at least a week.
• Fever: If you have a fever, it is a telltale sign that you have the flu, but fever can also be a symptom of COVID-19 and RSV. Most often, a common head cold won’t get you heated up.
• Loss of taste or smell: This is an obvious clue for COVID-19 and is rarely seen in other respiratory illnesses. I don’t know about you, but for me, a head cold or the flu changes the taste of my morning chi latte, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. But here is the deal: I can still taste!
• Sore throat: A clear indication of a cold, but also for COVID-19. Some flu symptoms may make it difficult to swallow, but this is rarely seen in RSV.
• Wheezing: Now, this symptom is just about exclusive to RSV. If you hear a crackling sound or feel you need to gasp for breath, then head to the doctor quickly!

Minimizing Risk

Now that we know the symptoms of each disease, let’s talk about how to minimize your risk and the risk of transmitting to your loved ones, your social circle, and the patients we see every day.

Handwashing is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, and we don’t do it often enough. Do you realize that about 80% of infectious diseases are spread by dirty hands?(You can get a report at the bottom of the page if you are interested.) It grosses me out when I see someone leave a bathroom stall and not stop to wash. I use the foot thing to open the door after them for sure.

In the dental office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the CDC, and Association for Dental Safety all require that hands be washed before and after donning and doffing gloves. But I know for a fact that many don’t wash between glove changes.

I think in the medical/dental profession, we tend to be the ones not skipping that bathroom wash, but think about going to the grocery store and grabbing the cart by that nasty handle that the person who skipped the bathroom just used…. YUCK! Then, to make matters worse, that person’s DayQuil is wearing off, and they start sneezing all over the place. They use their hand and wipe it on their pants, but it still makes its way back to the handle of that grocery cart.

Then here we come along and grab that same handle and make our way through the store, spreading those germs all willy-nilly along the way. Do you wash your hands before getting into your car and driving home to get your purchases out and put away? I will be the first to admit, I do not.

A neverending cycle of contamination that starts with an airborne virus that settles into the nooks and crannies of life.

Here are 5 things you can do to protect yourself, your family, your team, and patients under your care:

1. WASH YOUR HANDS every chance you get. Back in the pandemic, we all kept hand sanitizer handy; you couldn’t even find it in the stores. So, grab that little keychain bottle and lather it on well if you don’t have soap and water handy.
2. Cover your nose and mouth when sneezing with your elbow, not your hand. I know we all know this, but watch those around you in the workplace or store and see what they do. It’s an eye-opener for sure.
3. Stay home when you are sick until you know you are not contagious. And keep your kids home too. The longer you spend in an environment (think work and school/daycare), the more likely you are to pick up “what’s going around,” and then you bring that home to your family and friends. So if at all possible, STAY HOME until you know, especially if you have a fever. This action helps to break the cycle.
4. Use respiratory protection when you are going to be in a crowd, when appropriate.I am not an alarmist, but we are talking about airborne illnesses.
5. Get appropriate vaccinations recommended by the CDC. Now I know this may go against the grain of some of you reading this, but hear me out.

Unless you are going to isolate yourself for the rest of time, we all need to do our part to help keep our world safe. There is a lot of research that is verified before vaccinations are approved for use by the FDA. It is amazing to me to know that diseases like whooping cough and measles are making their way back into our society after being under control for such a long time, mostly because we have stopped getting vaccines for ourselves and our kids.

So, it’s time to act:

1. Create a cough station at home and at the office. Have tissues, hand sanitizer, and masks handy, with a waste basket nearby for used items.
2. Make your own “sanitizing kit” or use the wipes provided at most stores to sanitize the shopping cart handles. Breaking this cycle really helps
3. Talk with your doctors and office managers and come up with a “plan for sick days.” Discuss as a team when to call and whom to call, and under what circumstances. We had a plan that if no fever was present, the person with the cold always wore a mask in the office. Make it something you all can work with. Same with school/daycare, discuss what provisions they have for “isolation” of sick kids
4. And I’ll say it again. WASH YOUR HANDS often. No excuses.

I want to offer my best wishes for a “germless” cold and flu season for you and yours.

Until next time, my friends—
Stay informed. Stay clean. Stay safe.

🦷✨ — Sherrie, The Clean Bite

References

National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: How to Tell the Difference between Flu, RSV, COVID-19, and the Common Cold

National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: Handwashing