Stinking Colds

I've got a cold at the moment. Presumably of the common variety. I used to get colds all the time - often combined with sinusitis and a persistent cough. However, over the last few years I don't seem to be bothered by them as much. It is meant to be one of the compensating factors of getting older that common colds become somewhat less common. However, I put my change down to the fact that I no longer use public transport on a regular basis. Getting a train into the centre of large metropolises may be convenient but the downside is that they tend to be disease ridden hellholes (and not just ScotRail, either).

So why the cold now? Well, I've got no conclusive proof, but I used the Tube in London last week. Sure enough, four days after returning home I had the starting of aching legs and a runny nose. The Tube may be a fantastic form of transport (well, compared to the maelstrom that passes for road transport in London) but it isn't so great for one's health and wellbeing. In fact, having done a search, a University of Nottingham survey established that those visiting their GPs for a respiratory condition were 6 times as likely to have used public transport than those that had non-respiratory illnesses. Of course, there could be other factors at play but given that it is an enclosed environment where multiple hands will touch multiple hand rails and the air is in continual recirculation it is a premium location for spreading viruses.

I'm not even sure that it could be prevented - other than requiring Tube passengers to wear face-masks and gloves. However, government strategies for dealing with influenza outbreaks always concentrate on "at risk" groups. Maybe they would be better off concentrating on season ticket holders?