THERE is arguably nothing worse than feeling a cold coming on.

Those all too familiar symptoms, sore throats, runny noses and pressure in your face, strike children twice as many times a year as adults.

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And with a new Covid variant driving up new cases, and flu poised to strike, it seems like everyone is coming down with something at the moment.

While it can be hard to tell all three bugs apart, a cold, on the whole, tends to be a little milder.

There’s no proven way to get rid of cold, however, several medicines and remedies can help ease the symptoms, TV pharmacist Thorrun Govind explains.

“The crux of getting yourself better involves lots of rest, sleep and water; this will give your immune system the best chance,” she tells The Sun.

She also stresses the importance of keeping yourself hydrated.

You don’t need to gulp down two litres of water – tea and coffee also work

“You can also try drinking some fruit juice or squash – the important thing here is to avoid dehydration,” Thorrun explains.

The main reason to pay close attention to your fluid intake when you’re sick is that you are probably neglecting your normal eating and drinking habits.

On top of this, you’re also losing water to congestion and a fever.

Treatments that work

If those pesky symptoms are getting the better of you, Thorrun says there are a few treatments you can try.

“Try gargling some salt and water to treat a sore throat,” the pharmacist suggests.

To do this, dissolve half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water.

Gargle with the solution, then spit it out. Repeat as often as you would like.

According to Penn Medicine, salt water can help kill bacteria, ease pain, and loosen mucus, helping to relieve symptoms.

For those wanting to relieve their blocked noses, try some decongestant medicines.

“Nasal sprays work much quicker than tablets because the decongestant reaches your blocked nose almost instantly,” Thorrun explains.

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In fact, health experts in the US claimed decongestants when used in oral medicines (rather than nasal sprays), don’t work at all.

“Make sure you don’t use these sprays for longer than five days,” she warns, “as using them for any longer can make your nose more blocked, even after the infection has cleared up”.

Recently, scientists have found that saline nasal drops can reliably shorten a child’s cold by two days, in addition to reducing the risk that they’ll pass the bug on to their parents or other family members. 

The best way to ease aches and pains we often get with a cold is to pop some paracetamol and ibuprofen, the expert adds.

“You can take both these at the same time, but make sure you keep track of how much you take so you don’t take too much,” she explains.

Myths to avoid

“Some people take vitamin C, but there is very little evidence to suggest it helps with a cold,” ^Thorrun says.

Some studies suggest the vitamin could help clear up a cold faster, but the evidence is still inconclusive.

“Another popular product for cold and flu among patients is echinacea, but there isn’t much evidence to suggest it does anything,” she adds.

Echinacea is a plant that experts once thought stimulated the immune system to fight infection more effectively.

Recent studies have found that dietary supplement does little to reduce the time you feel ill.

Thorrun warned people asking for or using against using left-over antibiotics they might find in their house.

“You won’t need antibiotics if you have a cold because colds are viruses, and antibiotics are only effective against bacteria,” she says.

Prevention is better than cure

Like with all illnesses, when it comes to a cold, prevention is better than cure.

“To avoid getting a cold, wash your hands regularly, particularly before touching your nose or mouth and handling food,” Thorrun says.

And if you live with someone with a cold, don’t share items like a towel or cup with the ill person.

When to see a GP

You only need to see a healthcare professional if your cold symptoms persist for more than three weeks or if they worsen suddenly.

You should always seek help if you develop breathing difficulties, chest pain, or start coughing up bloodstained mucus.

Which cold and flu remedies actually work?

Sun Health reporter Isabel Shaw put nine well-known cold and flu remedies when she was struck with a lurgy.

Over the course of a week, she tried products targeted at all symptoms associated with cold and flu, as well as treatments that only aimed to get rid of specific issues.

These included:

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1. Hot honey and lemon
2. Steam inhalation and Vicks Vaporub
3. Echinacea
4. Chicken soup
5. A spicy curry
6. Beechams All in One Oral Solution
7. Strepsils
8. Lemsip Max
9. Sudafed Blocked Nose Spray

She took into account pain reduction, and how quickly and for how long they worked.

Read her full verdicts here.

A YOUNG woman has revealed worryingly harness sign she had a rare blood cancer.  

Jessica Hamersley, from Essex, noticed a red throbbing splotch on her left shin that kept disappearing and reemerging for over a year.

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The 27-year-old, who dismissed it as eczema or a shaving nick, assumed it was merely irritated by her perfumed moisturiser and would disappear on its own. 

It was only after her fiancé urged her to get it checked out, fearing it may be related to her contraceptive pill, that she sought medical advice. 

When a second pill failed to get rid of the rash she was referred for an X-ray in October 2023, which revealed a mass on her chest.

Subsequent biopsies in February found Jessica had Hodgkin lymphoma – a rare cancer that starts in the white blood cells.

A PET scan in March also showed the mass on her chest was more than seven inches in size and had been “crushing” her heart. 

Recalling the ordeal, Jessica said: “I sometimes use perfumed moisturiser and sometimes with eczema that can cause my skin to have a little bit of a flare up.

“Honestly at the time I didn’t think anything serious of it.

“I thought maybe it was a flare-up on my leg or I caught myself when I was shaving. You never think of cancer.

“A rash on my leg literally saved my life.

” I don’t smoke, I only drink really rarely when I go out.

“So I was thinking, I’m perfectly healthy, why would I get cancer?

“I had no cough, when I saw the chest x-rays I thought oh my god that was sitting on my chest but I felt fine. It’s really strange.

“I was so healthy. I actually feel more unwell from the chemo than I did before. I felt completely healthy with all the tumours.

“I even remember when I went to the x-ray room I said to the radiologist, ‘this is really dramatic, I’m sorry for wasting your time’.

“Usually with Hodgkin lymphoma, you can get loads of other symptoms. I had nothing.”

Hodgkin lymphoma occurs when infection-fighting white blood cells called B-lymphocytes multiply in an abnormal way and collect in certain parts of the lymphatic system. 

This can cause a painless swelling in a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit or groin. 

Other symptoms include a persistent cough, a fever, night sweats and weight loss. 

Around 2,600 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, meaning it accounts for fewer than one per cent of cancers.

In the US, 8,800 cases are spotted annually.

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According to Cancer Research UK, almost 85 per cent of those with cancer will survive for five years or more after diagnosis. 

Jessica was diagnosed with stage 2A Hodgkin’s lymphoma, meaning the lymphoma was in two or more groups of lymph nodes but there were no typical symptoms. 

She also claimed her consultant at the Princess Alexandra Hospital told her the rash on her leg was erythema nodosum, a condition that causes fat tissue to be inflamed.

This usually goes away by itself but can sometimes be a sign of something serious like an inflammatory bowel condition, such as Crohn’s disease, according to the NHS. 

The skin usually heals on its own within three to eight weeks without leaving a scar.

But other symptoms, such as joint pain and swelling, can last for several weeks.

‘I thought they had the wrong scan’

Jessica said: “When I spoke to the consultant about it [the rash] he said it’s a really weird way of your body telling you there’s something wrong inside.

“I thought maybe it was triggered with stress. But they said it [the mass] was crushing my heart.

“It was all crazy. I just froze really. I was with my partner and I feel like I zoned out, I wasn’t really listening.

“The whole time they were doing tests they said the worst possibility is cancer so my brain never went there.

“I thought they had the wrong scan.”

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She added: “I cried when I was told I was going to lose my hair. Now it’s growing back so it doesn’t phase me as much, I’m used to it.

“But you just kind of go into fight or flight mode and it was just survival. It was just “what’s next? What do we do?”‘

‘I looked horrible’

After beginning an aggressive course of chemotherapy in the Spring, in August she was thankfully declared cancer-free. 

“It happened so quickly. But my consultant said that if you lose your hair quickly it’s a very good sign that the chemo is working,” Jessica said. 

“I looked horrible being bald but that’s what I was clinging to. I was like “oh my god it must be working then”.’

To celebrate being cancer-free, she is now going on holiday to Disneyworld Orlando with her fiancé, William Webber.

She said: “That weight just lifted off of me and all of my family’s shoulders.

“[William] He’s just been amazing. He’s been my rock through it all.

“All through chemo all we ever spoke about was how much of a good time it would be if we went to Disney together.

“I’m going to go celebrate in the happiest place on earth.

“I’m still very out of breath and I feel like my joints are still very weak because I got arthritis from the chemotherapy in my hips and spine.

“I’m just so glad it was caught early and the treatment was less than it would have been. I’m very grateful to that GP.’

‘You’re never promised tomorrow’

Jessica, who was working in customer service before her diagnosis, is now recovering from her treatment and building her stamina back up before going back to work.

She will still need to have follow-up scans and blood tests every few months to check the cancer has not returned.

Now, she is urging anyone concerned by their unusual symptoms to seek medical assistance as soon as possible.  

“Life is so short and you don’t realise that until something like this happens,” she added.

“You’re never promised tomorrow and that’s such a big quote that sits in my head now.

“Cancer completely changes your perspective on life. I used to get angry if someone cut me up when I was driving and now I’m just thinking let it go.

“I just let everything go now. It’s never that deep now, it’s never that important anymore.”

MALARIA cases resulting from bites from infected mosquitoes that have been transported on planes are on the rise in Europe.

Cases of suitcase and airport malaria, also known as Odyssean malaria, have been reported among travellers returning from countries where the disease is established.

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Of 6,131 cases that were reported in the EU/EEA in 2022, 99 per cent were travel related.

Odyssean malaria refers to cases resulting from the bite of an infected mosquito transported by aircraft, luggage, or parcel from an endemic area.

Malaria was eradicated in western Europe in the 1970s, but locally-acquired infections are still reported sporadically every year in the continent.

Infections include those which are transmitted by a local mosquito after it has bitten an infected returning traveller, induced cases related to other means of transmission such as mother-to-child transmission, and Odyssean malaria.

In a systemic review of studies in Europe from 1969 to January 2024, out of 145 cases described from nine countries, 105 were classified as airport malaria, 32 as luggage malaria, and eight as either type of malaria.

Most cases were reported in France, Belgium and Germany.

The people infected either half resided or worked near or at an international airport.

And cases have been found to be rising with one third of cases reported over the last five years – even when air traffic declined during the Covid pandemic.

If malaria isn’t treated quickly it can be deadly. It’s a leading cause of death in many developing countries.

For the cases in the review with a known outcome, 124 recovered and nine died.

People infected with malaria had a mean age of 37.9 years and were more likely o be male than female.

Patients that died were older on average, with a mean age of 57.2 years.

Similar trends were demonstrated in a retrospective analysis of surveillance and case investigation data in France on locally acquired malaria from 1995 to 2022.

Researchers found a total of 117 locally acquired malaria cases reported in France.

Locally acquired infections remained constant overall, with more Odyssean being reported since 2011.

Half of patients were born in a country in Africa, where malaria is common, and the other half were both in France.

Most the cases were reported in the region Île-de-France. 

The researchers have now advised strict enforcement of disinsectization of aircrafts to tackle the risk of Odyssean malaria.

They also recommended doctors consider the possibility of locally-acquired malaria for patients with an unexplained fever early, even if there is no travel history.

And would like to see more structured surveillance of malaria cases in Europe and the implementation of preventative measures.

Malaria is usually found in tropical regions including large areas of Africa and Asia, Central and South America, and parts of the Middle East.

It’s important to check the malaria risk for the country you’re travelling to before you go.

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