After days of being battered by heavy rain in Bangkok, anyone who isn't sniffling or coughing probably considers themselves lucky. After all, didn't your mother always tell you, "Don't stay in the rain or you'll catch a cold" … "go dry your hair and change your clothes or you'll catch a cold"? Mine certainly did.
But can we really "catch a cold" from the rain? According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the people you call when there's a zombie outbreak, you can reduce the risk of getting a cold by washing your hands often, avoiding close contact with sick people, and not touching your face with unwashed hands.
The viruses that cause colds can be spread from infected people through the air and close personal contact. You can also get infected through "contact with stool or respiratory secretions from an infected person". This can happen when you "shake hands with someone who has a cold, or touch a surface, like a doorknob, that has respiratory viruses on it, and then touch your eyes, mouth or nose".
Did you see rain mentioned anywhere? No, you didn't.
The key lesson from the CDC is that viruses cause colds and you can catch them from an infected person directly or via surfaces with the viruses on them. There are many different kinds of cold virus, with rhinovirus the most common. But none of them fall out of the sky with the rain.
There is a theory that being wet or cold can cause your body temperature to drop, weaken your immune system and leave you more susceptible to infection. But this myth arose because some people who were already on the verge of being sick found themselves with symptoms after getting wet.
The best way to avoid catching a cold, according to the CDC, is to wash your hands for about 20 seconds when you get home or before eating anything with bare hands. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands because some viruses can live on objects for 24 hours.
If you have a cold and still have to work, try not to sneeze around people, and close your mouth when you do. If you sneeze into a tissue, toss it into the bin right away, Don't keep it on your desk as a trophy. This is simple common sense.
And for my personal request as the father of a three-year-old, if your child is sick, please do not bring them to school. Again, this is common sense and a responsible thing to do.
Rhinoviruses can trigger asthma attacks and have been linked to sinus and ear infections. People at high risk of flu complications include children younger than five. Children with weakened immune systems, asthma or respiratory conditions may also develop serious illness, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, which are much nastier than the common cold.
There is no vaccine against the common cold but the CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccination as a good preventive step. Influenza is caused by a different type of virus, but with similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a common cold and flu. The latter is much worse, but since there is an antiviral for it, one jab a year to prevent it couldn't hurt.
Now, my mother might be right that we should change our clothes and dry our hair when we get wet because staying soggy might lower our immune system. But being wet or cold definitely does not infect you with the viruses that cause the cold. This is the same logic as when you go for a swim and take a shower -- you should dry yourself anyway.
A final thought: you may have seen a news report last week that the plastic trays used at airport security checkpoints around the globe and touched by millions of passengers are full of nasty bugs. They've been found to contain a variety of germs including those responsible for the common cold and flu, such as rhinovirus and influenza A.
Even if you are not a frequent flyer, if you use any form of public transport, think of how many surfaces you touch and then think about washing your hands.
In short, the skytrain might get you even if the rain doesn't, no matter what mum told you.
