过敏、感冒、流感和COVID-19：如何为秋季做最好的准备
过敏、感冒、流感和COVID-19：如何为秋季做最好的准备
Is that sneezing or coughing fit a sign of allergies, a cold, the flu or COVID-19? If you also have a fever — a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit — those symptoms probably signal infection and not just allergies acting up. (Wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking to get an accurate measurement.)
打喷嚏或咳嗽是过敏、感冒、流感或COVID-19的征兆吗?如果你还发烧——体温超过100.4华氏度(约为38摄氏度)——这些症状很可能是感染的信号，而不仅仅是过敏。(进食或饮酒后等待30分钟，才能获得准确的测量结果。)
You might have hoped the pandemic would cancel what we doctors usually think of as "sick season," but as cool weather signals the annual arrival of autumn allergies, colds and flu in the U.S., sick season is still right on schedule.
你可能希望这次流行病会取消我们医生通常认为的“疾病季节”，但凉爽的天气预示着美国每年秋季过敏症、感冒和流感的到来，疾病季节仍然如期而至。
In my clinic, that means a flurry of visits and calls from patients worried about their runny noses, coughs and sore throats.
在我的诊所里，这意味着病人们会接二连三地来就诊和打电话，担心他们的流鼻涕、咳嗽和喉咙痛。
Before COVID-19, it was already tough for patients to know how seriously to take those common symptoms. Allergies and colds are mostly just a nuisance, but a severe case of the flu can kill.
在COVID-19出现之前，患者已经很难知道如何严肃对待这些常见症状。过敏和感冒大多是令人讨厌的，但严重的流感可以致命。
The flu routinely kills between 12,000 and 61,000 people in America each year, and COVID-19 has already killed more than 200,000, just since February.
在美国，每年死于这种流感的人数通常在1.2万到6.1万人之间，而自今年2月以来，COVID-19已经导致20多万人死亡。
Those big combined numbers of deaths can be scary, especially if you've skipped or postponed your usual health routines and check-ins with a doctor this year. Now's the time to get back in gear: Here are a few steps to improve your chances of staying healthy, even in "sick season."
这些巨大的死亡数字加在一起可能会很可怕，尤其是如果你今年已经取消或推迟了你的常规健康程序和医生检查。现在是时候恢复正常了：这里有一些步骤可以让你即使在“疾病季节”也能保持健康。
Establish a relationship with a primary care provider before you get sick
在你生病之前，与初级保健提供者建立关系
Do this now. Having a clinician who already knows your medical history when you call helps, too — they may feel more comfortable making certain treatment recommendations online or over the phone and to know when it's better to have you come in for a physical exam because you have certain risk factors.
现在就做。当你打电话时，有一个已经知道你的病史的临床医生也有帮助——他们可能会觉得在网上或电话上提出某些治疗建议会更舒服，并且知道什么时候让你来做体检比较好，因为你有某些风险因素。
Keep your vaccinations up to date
及时接种疫苗
Primary care providers, as well as pharmacists, can help track whatever vaccinations you need – and those immunizations are especially important during a pandemic. This fall, as every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccines against influenza for pretty much everyone older than 6 months, including pregnant women and the elderly.
初级保健提供者和药剂师可以帮助跟踪你需要的任何疫苗接种——而这些免疫接种在流行病期间尤其重要。和往年一样，今年秋天，美国疾病控制与预防中心建议几乎所有6个月以上的人都接种流感疫苗，包括孕妇和老年人。
Got seasonal allergies that flare in the fall? Nip symptoms in the bud with early treatment
在秋天患上季节性过敏?通过早期治疗将症状消灭在萌芽状态
While vaccines can help keep some respiratory infections away, they don't prevent ragweed, pollen, dust or mold in the air from triggering symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, itchy or watering eyes, headache and even fatigue. If you know you struggle with airborne allergens this time of year, start your usual medicines before symptoms develop, or at the first sign, to prevent or help stop the inflammation that makes symptoms escalate.
虽然疫苗可以防止一些呼吸道感染，但它们不能防止豚草、花粉、灰尘或空气中的霉菌引发流鼻涕、打喷嚏、眼睛发痒或流泪、头痛甚至疲劳等症状。如果你知道在一年中的这个时候你正在与空气传播的过敏原斗争，那么在症状出现之前或第一次出现症状时就开始服用常规药物，以防止或帮助阻止导致症状升级的炎症。
And, speaking of fever, be ready to check for one
说到发烧，准备好检查一下
Keep a thermometer in your home, since checking your temperature is a good place to start distinguishing allergies from an infection if you're feeling unwell. Just remember the definition of true fever – a temperature at or above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38 degree Celsius.
在家里放一支温度计，因为如果你感觉不舒服，通过测量体温可以很好地区分过敏和感染。只要记住真正发烧的定义——温度在或高于100.4华氏度，或38摄氏度。
