Commentator:  "But winter is also the season of sniffles coughs, runny noses, body aches and fevers.  Every year from October to May, the common cold and influenza infect millions throughout the United States." 

Commentator:  "While the common cold is a nuisance, influenza can be deadly, responsible for twenty thousand deaths per year"

Commentator:  "We've all suffered a cold and flu.  The culprit, a virus.  A microscopic body invader whose sole purpose is to infect our upper respiratory tract, multiply, and spread.  The virus enters our body through our mouth, eyes, and most typically, our noses."

With regards to the symptoms of colds and flus, the Commentator states:  "...well known aggravating symptoms.  The runny nose, the coughing, the sneezing.   This is how our bodies expel the virus.  But its also how the virus spreads.  The virus shoots through the air carried by tiny droplets of saliva.  Its on the loose, prowling for a new host.  Once the virus invades a new victim, its off to schools, shopping malls and offices - possibly infecting hundreds of people in the course of a day.  Unlike other more deadly viruses like malaria, encephalitis, and H.I.V., cold and flu viruses live in the air which makes their transmission much easier."

Kimberle Chapin, M.D., Lahey Clinic: "Viruses can live on surfaces for up to six hours.  And so, it is possible to get respiratory viruses from inanimate objects such as the phone or the ATM." 

Commentator:  "Virtually everything we touch could harbor a cold or flu virus." 

Commentator:  "Adults average two to four colds per year.  But children get colds much more often."

Beth Freire, M.D., North Andover Pediatric Association:  "A child has on the average 7-10 colds during the months of September probably through April."

Commentator:  "Schools and daycare centers are breeding grounds for colds and flu." 

Commentator:  "But curing the common cold remains a holy grail of modern medicine." 

Commentator:  "...there are over 200 varieties of cold viruses..."

Commentator:  "You can catch a cold from breathing contaminated air." 

Commentator:  "In 1918, the world learned just how quickly a dangerous virus could spread.  An international influenza epidemic, or pandemic, traversed the globe and killed as many as twenty million world-wide.  More Americans died from the 1918 flu than were killed in World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Ware combined." 

Commentator:  "Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection.  Typical symptoms include sneezing, coughing, sudden fever, body aches, and a feeling of general weakness.  It can lead to twenty thousand deaths in the United States each year."        

Commentator:  "There are those who believe that a lethal influenza virus could be a disaster of global proportions."

Edwin Kilbourne, M.D., New York Medical College: "Flu predictably changes every year.  It evolves more rapidly than any other virus.  It changes its coat so the body's immune system cells don't recognize it as being the virus they encountered the year before.  In fact, it is a new virus."

Commentator:  "Influenza immunization is recommended for anyone who wants to reduce their risk of catching the flu." 

Patient wearing breathing apparatus (Ms. Millie Felchie*): "I went from a thirty six year old woman who was so active to somebody who was going to die." 

Commentator:  "As a result, her flu spiraled into a devastating attack of pneumonia.  Millie's lungs withered to just 17% of their volume." 

Commentator:  "Pneumonia is the most serious complication of influenza.  It usually occurs when a disease organism travels down the windpipe and into the lungs."        

Commentator, regarding pneumonia:  "Symptoms include fever, cough, sputum and shortness of breath."

Micheal Worthington, M.D., St. Elizabeth's Medial Center, regarding pneumonia:  "The worst case, of course, is death.  And, the virus itself, influenza, can cause a severe pneumonia causing death.  More commonly, it predisposes to bacterial infection.  People can become very sick, very quickly.  The bacteria can get into the blood, and you can die in a matter of a couple of days."   

Commentator:  "Some years, there are as many as 5.1 million cases of pneumonia in the United States resulting in up to 90,000 deaths.  Anybody can contract pneumonia.  But is particularly dangerous for the elderly, the very young, and people with chronic medical conditions, like Millie Felchie.   Over the past 17 years, Millie has battled almost a dozen pneumonia infections, each lander her in the hospital.  Each time, she prepared for the worst."

Patient, (Ms. Millie Felchie*):  "My husband, when he took me to the hospital he'd say to my son - 'Well, maybe mommy won't come home this time'." 

Commentator:  "Herbal remedies could prove to be another important weapon in your arsenal against the winter onslaught of colds and flu." 

Marcia Cohen, M.D., Medical Analyst, regarding the subject of chicken soup and colds and flus:  "...very important researchers said, well that's ridiculous. Chicken soup doesn't do anything for you.  But they are wrong.  Chicken soup does do something for you." 

Marcia Cohen, M.D., Medical Analyst:  "In order to get the cold or to get the flu, you have to be exposed to the virus.  That virus has to enter your nose, enter your mouth, get into the back of your throat to get the cold."  "...no matter how cold you get, you cannot get the flu or a cold just by being cold." 

Reference:  First Part of the "Cold and Flu Season Special" on the Discovery Health Channel between 9-10 PM on 12/8/2001 entitled "The Body Invaders", "Cold and Flu".  Any name identified with an "*" is spelled phonetically from the broadcast, and may be in error.