Healthcare expert explains how to fight off those summer bugs
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – “Oh, we have had an array,” said Amy Bogue, President of Allegro Family Clinic.
President of Allegro Family Clinic Amy Bogue said her clinic has been seeing a lot of patients lately, with a lot of different symptoms.
“A lot of it has been sinus or G.I., and some people have just not been feeling well, and they have been trying to figure out why. It has been all kinds of diagnoses,” said Bogue.
The CDC reports, 43-79% of travelers to low- and middle-income countries become sick during or after travel.
Bogue said, This could be one reason for the recent increases.
“Anytime you have a lot of people at a larger gathering, there is more of a risk,” said Bogue. “You tend to relax especially around people you know. You may not wash your hands as often, and it is summertime, so they are not really thinking about all the precautions. ”
And parents of school-aged children are getting a sort of double-dose.
Those children are headed back to the classrooms, some as soon as this week, and getting back into the classroom can lead to even more people getting sick, especially with younger children.
But there are a few ways to make sure your child has a safe and a clean school year.
“If we can remember to wash your hands, a big one is to remember to sneeze in your elbow instead of letting it go everywhere and wiping down surfaces when there have been multiple people,” said Bogue. “For example, in the lunchroom when you have multiple shifts of people coming in, if they can just take standard precautions, it will decrease the amount of sickness.”
Bogue also said, having a good, consistent nighttime routine could play a huge part in fighting off those summer bugs.
“They need to get a good night sleep,” said Bogue. “It is time to start kind of putting kids to bed earlier even though it is lighter outside. We need to really focus on sleep and hydration, especially with this heat right now. When you are dehydrated, that can cause a lot of signs and symptoms and then when your immune system is down, you can get sick easier.”
Bogue also recommends that parents give their children a good multi-vitamin to help fight off germs.
