Amid rising cases of the '100-day cough,' health experts in the UK are asking people to forget about shaking hands and try bumping elbows when greeting friends and family. The suggestion comes as global rates of respiratory illnesses rise, including whooping cough - also known as pertussis - which causes a severe, long-lasting illness with a cough harsh enough to break a person's ribs. Between July and November, there were 716 reported cases of pertussis, which is three times higher than the same period in 2022, the UK's Independent reported, citing the UK Health Security Agency.
"The holidays are a great time to get infected," Hirsch, infectious disease specialist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., told The Post. "If your cousin is coughing his head off at the dinner table, I would avoid that person," Hirsch said. "It's a good idea to touch elbows instead of shaking hands," he added, noting that extra precautions are in order "if there's someone who is frail, elderly or on medication to suppress their immune systems."
"People's social activities tend to increase over the holiday season and therefore the risk of viral respiratory infections will increase. The commoner ones are likely to include colds, influenza and RSV, and if there is crowding and people are sufficiently unintelligent as to use only elbow bumps, then cases of the Mers, coronavirus, parainfluenza, and if one of our crowded gales wishes us ill, measles."
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]