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There's no cure for a common cold, but some over-the-counter medicines may alleviate symptoms. The best cold and flu medicine depends on your symptoms. Pain medication, for example, can treat a sore throat, aches, and fever. Decongestants help alleviate a stuffy nose, while expectorants can treat a runny nose. Various viruses may cause a cold, the most common being rhinoviruses. Influenza viruses, in contrast, cause the flu. Common cold and flu symptoms include a cough, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, fever, and sore throat. It's no surprise people spend hundreds of millions of dollars on over-the-counter (OTC) cold and flu medicine annually. However, few cold and flu remedies are likely to influence the course of illness if you are already sick. That said, some actually work. Read on to learn about the best cold and flu medicines. jeffbergen / Getty Images The best cold and flu medicine will depend on your symptoms, including a runny or stu...

Each week CDC calculates a lower estimate and an upper estimate of flu-related hospitalizations that have occurred since the beginning of the season (October 1, 2023). These are updated each week and are compared to end-of-season estimates of flu-related hospitalizations from previous flu seasons. Limitations The estimates of the preliminary, cumulative burden of seasonal influenza are subject to several limitations: The cumulative rate of lab-confirmed flu-related hospitalizations reported during the season may be an underestimate of the rate at the end of the season because of identification and reporting delays. Rates of lab-confirmed flu-related hospitalizations are adjusted for the frequency of flu testing and the sensitivity of flu diagnostic assays. However, data on testing practices during the current flu season are not available in real-time. To make these estimates, CDC uses data on testing practices from the past flu seasons as a proxy. If more testing is being don...

NEW YORK — U.S. births fell last year, resuming a long national slide. A little under 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, according to provisional statistics released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's about 76,000 fewer than the year before and the lowest one-year tally since 1979. U.S. births were slipping for more than a decade before COVID-19 hit, then dropped 4% from 2019 to 2020. They ticked up for two straight years after that, an increase experts attributed, in part, to pregnancies that couples had put off amid the pandemic's early days. But "the 2023 numbers seem to indicate that bump is over and we're back to the trends we were in before," said Nicholas Mark, a University of Wisconsin researcher who studies how social policy and other factors influence health and fertility. Birth rates have long been falling for teenagers and younger women, but rising for women in their 30s and 40s — a reflecti...

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Key facts Dengue is a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. About half of the world's population is now at risk of dengue with an estimated 100–400 million infections occurring each year. Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. While many dengue infections are asymptomatic or produce only mild illness, the virus can occasionally cause more severe cases, and even death. Prevention and control of dengue depend on vector control. There is no specific treatment for dengue/severe dengue, and early detection and access to proper medical care greatly lower fatality rates of severe dengue. Overview Dengue (break-bone fever) is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates. Most people who get dengue will not have symptoms. But for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and ras...

There's no cure for a common cold, but some over-the-counter medicines may alleviate symptoms. The best cold and flu medicine depends on your symptoms. Pain medication, for example, can treat a sore throat, aches, and fever. Decongestants help alleviate a stuffy nose, while expectorants can treat a runny nose. Various viruses may cause a cold, the most common being rhinoviruses. Influenza viruses, in contrast, cause the flu. Common cold and flu symptoms include a cough, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, fever, and sore throat. It's no surprise people spend hundreds of millions of dollars on over-the-counter (OTC) cold and flu medicine annually. However, few cold and flu remedies are likely to influence the course of illness if you are already sick. That said, some actually work. Read on to learn about the best cold and flu medicines. jeffbergen / Getty Images The best cold and flu medicine will depend on your symptoms, including a runny or stu...

It's that time of year again, when stuffy noses and irrepressible coughs start to show up everywhere. The best precaution you can take against influenza or Covid infection is to get vaccinated. But there is little you can do for the common cold and other respiratory illnesses, especially once you get sick. Most are caused by viruses, so you cannot cure them with antibiotics, which are used to treat bacterial infections. While drugs like Paxlovid are accessible for treating Covid, antiviral treatments for influenza, like Tamiflu, are usually reserved for people who have tested positive for the flu and are at risk of developing severe complications, such as those who are pregnant, elderly or immunocompromised. For everyone else, doctors suggest resting and waiting out your symptoms — which for flu, can include a fever, headache, body aches and a stuffy or runny nose that lasts three to five days. Some people may also develop a cough or sore throat or experience fatigue, which can las...