Cold Sore Care Needed During Winter
Finding the most effective cold sore treatment is one thing, but preventing the virus from activating in the first place is altogether another.
Unfortunately, short of fast-forwarding to the future for a science-fiction-style immune system transplant or super new vaccine, there is little you can do to guarantee freedom from a cold sore infection.
However, a recent item on ITV's This Morning programme indicated that vitamin C may have an important role in keeping the cold sore virus at bay.
Dr Chris Steele, the programme's resident expert, said that high doses of vitamin C had a role to play in boosting the function of the immune system. He suggested that simply adding more orange juice to the diet could help with this, although it is worth remembering that plenty of other fruits and vegetables contain similar levels of vitamin C while also having considerably lower sugar contents.
Read more: Cold Sore Care Needed During Winter
Is it a Pimple or a Cold Sore?
Are you confused by the sudden appearance of a raised mark above your lip? Well, it could be any number of things, but chances are it is either a pimple or a cold sore. The question is, how do you tell the difference?
For a start, if the mark's "debut" has been accompanied by a tingling sensation and perhaps cold or flu like symptoms, it is likely that it is a cold sore. The cold sore virus is, for non-immuno-compromised adults, pretty harmless but can give you a mild fever if it is your body's first ever outbreak – quickly apply the best cold sore treatment you can find in order to reduce symptoms and shorten the sore's lifespan.
Furthermore, if the mark contains fluid and has more than one bump, it is probably a cold sore. Pimples tend to just have one "head", are usually smaller than cold sores and, after a few days, may develop a white or yellow pus-filled apex.
Read more: Is it a Pimple or a Cold Sore?
Scientists' Cold Sore Vaccine Breakthrough
New Scientist and the medical journal Vaccine have reported on a promising development that scientists have dreamed of for decades: a potential breakthrough in the creation of a herpes simplex vaccine.
Research scientists at Louisiana State University in the United States say that they have successfully used an early-stage vaccine to protect both monkeys and guinea pigs from the virus.
However, although the vaccine being developed is for the treatment of HSV-2, there is also realistic expectation that the vaccine could be adapted to treat HSV-1 – the virus responsible for cold sores. Furthermore, the scientists are optimistic that although the vaccine has yet to be tested on people, the results they have so far experienced with animals will be translatable to the human population.
And it is not only a development that will affect those who are looking for protection from the virus; it is thought that the vaccine will be able to protect those who have already been infected and have experienced outbreaks. As such, the potential impact of the vaccine is huge: one in six adults in the world is thought to suffer from at least one form of the cold sore virus.
Read more: Scientists' Cold Sore Vaccine Breakthrough
Turkey's Ancient Cold Sore Treatment
The effectiveness of propolis as a cold sore treatment is something of an open secret among the educated and scientifically-concerned sections of the wellness community, but it is interesting to see how this age-old natural remedy is also becoming increasingly popular with both mainstream consumers and conventional medicine practitioners.
For example, at the beginning of the recent school term in Turkey, public health experts advised of the benefits of using propolis to support the immune system during the periods in which the country moves from summer to autumn and all the associated health challenges this brings for schools and their students.
Professor Dilek Boyacioglu, director or Istanbul Technical University's EU Center Research Office emphasized the importance of ensuring that children have strong immune systems to see them through the winter, stating that propolis – as well as another bee-derived product, Royal Jelly – could be used to help ward off harmful bacteria and microbes while also helping to support the body's metabolism.
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From Sour Cream to Cold Sore Cream
As regular viewers of Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped will already know, sharing chips and dips can be rather more personal than you might imagine; so much so that sharing them may potentially have you reaching for your nearest tube of cold sore cream.
This revelation follows an investigation by the programme which revealed that the cold sore virus as well as the pathogens for other common ailments, including streptococcus and norovirus, can harbour in party dips and sauces.
In practice this means that if a carrier of any of these viruses or bacterias engages in the socially dubious practice of “double dipping” their crisps, crackers or cruditees, he or she could contaminate the food and cause illnesses to be passed on to other attendees.
Read more: From Sour Cream to Cold Sore Cream
