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important. If people are concerned, they should call their GP ahead and arrange for testing.” With coronavirus lockdowns in full swing, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President, Dr Harry Nespolon, is advising Australians to get their flu shots as soon as possible, in contrast to the College’s advice of previous years that they should be vaccinated around May. The chief reason for this is that people will probably have a greater chance of accessing a health professional for the shot in a safe way earlier in the year rather than later when the virus could peak, inundating healthcare professionals and hospitals with patient care. Ms Moles underscores though, that for the most part, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants will be able to quickly ascertain if someone is not simply suffering from a common cold. “Flu causes someone to feel very sick, with fever, chills, aches and pains and an inability to get out of bed,” she said. “The common cold would rarely do that to someone. A cold is annoying but never that severe.” She says the common cold is “very common”, with adults usually having two to three colds a year that span about seven to 10 days. Pharmacy assistants, she adds, can emphasise to their patients that coughs and colds “can’t necessarily be avoided”, no matter how good their personal hygiene is, or how many supplements and immune boosters they take, or how much healthy food they consume. This is because there are more than 100 known cold viruses with new strains evolving every year, Dr Moles says. “Viruses, which are everywhere, are quite clever,” she said, “because they change a lot and we can’t keep up with them. That’s why we don’t have a cure for the common cold. “There are also a lot of myths abounding that if a person isn’t warmly dressed enough and goes out in the rain, they’ll catch a cold. Actually, it’s really just about being exposed to a virus, which is exacerbated by poor hygiene in the form of people with the virus touching things that other people then touch and get infected.” Dr Moles says a person’s immune system should combat cold viruses most of the time, but sometimes they’ll “get a dose of a viral load that results in a cold”. How can people lessen the chances of getting coughs and colds? Pharmacy assistants should be constantly advising people to maintain healthy habits, Dr Moles says, as this will keep their immune system “strong”. “It’s all about eating healthy foods, COUGHS & COLDS 37 exercising and being meticulous when it comes to hand hygiene,” she said. She cautions, though, that it doesn’t help if people become too “germophobic”, because doses of germs and viruses are necessary to build up the immune system. “If a person never exposes themselves to pathogens out there, they’ll not be able to cope in a balanced way when they do,” she said. When is a cough associated with a cardiovascular condition? Coughs can be associated with cardiovascular conditions as a result of a back-up of fluid in the lungs, Dr Moles says. “This is because, if a patient’s heart isn’t pumping properly, the blood that has gone to the lungs to get oxygen is having trouble returning to the heart to be pumped around the rest of the body,” she said. “The lack of good pumping causes fluid to back up in the lungs, which causes a ‘gurgly’ cough, which usually sounds different to the cough associated with a cold.” She also cites the respiratory cough associated with asthma. “So, it’s clear that pharmacies have to do some good questioning around a patient’s cough in terms of when it occurs, what it sounds like and whether the patient has shortness of breath,” Dr Moles said, adding that cardiovascular coughs are often associated with shortness of breath. TO PAGE 38 “It’s all about eating healthy foods, exercising and being meticulous when it comes to hand hygiene.” Ask for Chemists’ Own® this winter ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR USE. IF SYMPTOMS PERSIST, TALK TO YOUR HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. To place an order talk to your Sales Representative or call 1300 9 ARROW www.chemistsown.com.au RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • MAY 2020