Why Your Summer Cold Might Be Worse Than The Winter Variety

This story was written by Local Editor Linda Chion Kenney.

It's not often that I get slam-dunked by a flu-like cold in the summer, but here I am, like many others, fighting the common cold in the waning dog days of summer.

What's with this cold? It's harsh, it's lingering and it started a few weeks back, only then it didn't amount to much, just a tickle in the throat and a few sniffles, and I thought it's time had passed.

But now it's back with a vengeance.

So, here I am, hacking cough keeping me up at night, flu-like symptoms keeping me down by day, and apparently I am not alone. As the Wall St. Journal reported this week: Summer Is The Real Season For Bad Colds, Not Winter.

"Having trouble kicking the common cold?" reads to intro to the Wall St. Journal report, published Aug. 26. "It's not your imagination. Summer colds are caused by different viruses than winter colds and tend to last longer than the winter variety."

Battling a bad cold yourself? Know someone who is? Care to avoid one yourself, if at all possible? This cold sufferer suggests taking a moment to read the full Wall St. Journal report, which offers some good information, including:

• The reason for the difference — why summertime colds "seemingly go away and then suddenly storm back with a vengeance," while "a winter cold, by contrast, is typically gone in a few days."

• How often summertime colds, compared to winter colds, occur. And why winter colds occur more frequently.

• Where both viruses — the enterovirus (culprit for the summer cold) and the rhinovirus (responsible for winter sickness) — thrive. 

• How to tell the difference between allergies and a summer cold.

• Will exercise help, or hurt, the healing? What about taking zinc?

• Does "moving between the warm outdoors and air-conditioned inside spaces make people more vulnerable to sickness in summer?"

Reading this report won't make you feel better, but it will make you feel less alone — and more understanding of those around you who suffer from the not-so-uncommon common summer cold.