Do you use cough medicine when your baby coughs? Here comes the list of scientific rumors in December →

1. Should I use cough medicine as soon as my baby coughs?

Rumor content : In autumn and winter, children are more susceptible to respiratory infections. Some parents buy cough medicine for their babies immediately when they see their babies coughing.

Truth Interpretation : It is not recommended. You should strictly follow the doctor's advice and take the right medicine. Coughing is a common respiratory symptom in children. Children's bronchial mucosa is delicate and has poor ability to resist external bacteria infection. It is easy to get respiratory inflammation and cough. This is a protective reflex of the human body. The bacteria and sputum in the respiratory tract can be expelled from the body through coughing, which plays a role in cleaning the respiratory tract and keeping it unobstructed.

In fact, in the early stage of a baby's cough with phlegm, early expectoration can fundamentally solve the cough. If you stop the cough without expectoration, it seems that the baby's cough is temporarily relieved, but in fact the phlegm has not been reduced at all, but it gives the pathogens time to buffer, forming a new infection or even progressing to pneumonia.

In addition, not all cough suppressants are suitable for children. Cough suppressants containing codeine and dextromethorphan have a central antitussive effect, but excessive use of these two ingredients has the risk of respiratory depression, and codeine is addictive and can cause strong dependence. Therefore, it is recommended that parents consult a doctor before using cough suppressants on children, and use the medicine after the doctor's diagnosis.

Source: People's Daily Health Client Check Disease

2. Humidifiers can cause "humidifier pneumonia", so we can't use humidifiers anymore?

Rumor content : Long-term use of humidifiers will cause the growth of bacteria, pose health risks to the human body, and lead to "humidifier pneumonia."

Truth interpretation : Inaccurate. Proper use of a humidifier will not cause pneumonia. If the humidifier is filled with unclean water, the germs may be spread into the air by the humidifier, and directly adding water containing disinfectants to the humidifier will irritate the human respiratory system.

In addition, dirt easily accumulates in the atomizer of many ultrasonic humidifiers. If it is not cleaned and disinfected regularly, it may also cause the growth of bacteria. The germ-laden water mist produced after humidification will be inhaled by us, making it more likely to cause disease.

Therefore, the correct way is to use clean water and clean the humidifier regularly.

Source: Science Refutes Rumors

3. Is it necessary to take antiviral drugs if you have influenza A?

Rumor content : Influenza A is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by influenza A virus infection. Since the beginning of winter, the number of people infected with influenza A has gradually increased. Many people believe that if you get influenza A, you need to take antiviral drugs as soon as possible.

Truth interpretation : Not necessarily. Antiviral drugs are mostly prescription drugs with certain conditions for use. It is recommended that they be used under the guidance of a doctor.

Common antiviral drugs for treating influenza A include oseltamivir, peramivir, and mabaloxavir.

Severely ill patients and people at high risk of severe illness, such as pregnant women, immunosuppressed people, and people with serious underlying diseases (chronic respiratory diseases, kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and the elderly, etc.) should seek medical attention as soon as possible and use antiviral drugs under the guidance of a doctor. People with mild symptoms and without the above high-risk factors should weigh the pros and cons and use antiviral drugs as appropriate.

Source: Science Refutes Rumors

4. When a cold is almost healed, it is most contagious?

Rumor content : When a cold is about to heal, the virus needs to reproduce and is most contagious. From this time on, isolation should be strengthened until full recovery.

Truth : Wrong. Colds are most contagious in the first 2 to 3 days after symptoms appear.

Colds usually refer to diseases caused by pathogens invading the respiratory tract, and the incubation period is usually 2 to 4 days. When cold symptoms such as chills, fever, headache, and sneezing appear, the pathogens have already multiplied in large numbers in the respiratory tract. Especially in the first 2 to 3 days after the onset of cold symptoms, the pathogens are most active, the largest in number, and highly contagious. As the disease improves, the contagiousness gradually weakens.

The reason for the misunderstanding that "a cold is most contagious when it is about to recover" is that the incubation period of a cold causes a time mismatch between the onset of the disease in the person who transmits it and the person who is infected.

Source: Science Refutes Rumors

5. Sleeping with wet hair causes cancer?

Rumor content : Be careful of cancer if you often sleep with wet hair, because sleeping with wet hair can easily cause Malassezia to grow on the scalp. Studies have shown that Malassezia can migrate from the intestine to the pancreas and may induce and promote pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Truth : False. Malassezia is a fungus that mainly lives on the skin, especially on the scalp. In some cases, such as when the body's immune system is weakened, its proliferation may cause two common skin diseases, tinea versicolor and Malassezia folliculitis. These two diseases are mild in themselves and generally do not cause serious consequences. Systemic infections caused by Malassezia are very rare.

Malassezia does like a humid and hot environment, but washing your hair itself reduces the number of Malassezia. Secondly, depending on the length and volume of your hair, the time it takes for wet hair to dry is not enough for it to return to its pre-washing number, so there is no need to worry too much.

Source: Tencent

6. After high-risk behavior, a negative test result means that you are not infected with HIV?

Rumor content: There are comments online saying that after engaging in high-risk behavior, you need to go to the hospital for testing immediately. If the result is negative, it means that you are not infected with the HIV virus.

Truth interpretation:

Wrong. There is a window period after HIV infection. When the virus first infects the body, the number of HIV virus amplification is still very small, and HIV virus antibodies, antigens or nucleic acids and other infection markers are difficult to detect. At this time, although the test result is negative, the body has actually been infected with HIV, and as the virus increases, the disease will still occur.

Source: Science Refutes Rumors

About the Science Rumors List

Released by the China Association for Science and Technology, the list is reviewed by experts every month. Based on criteria such as timeliness and harmfulness, hot rumors are selected for special interpretation and pushed across the entire network.

Jointly published: Scientific rumor-busting platform, China Internet Joint Rumor-busting Platform, "Study to Strengthen the Country" learning platform

Supported platforms: Weibo rumor refutation, Toutiao rumor refutation, Tencent Jiuzhen, NetEase Health, Toutiao Health, Baidu Knows, Douyin

Scientific rumor debunking: Sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other ministries and commissions, guided by the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, and jointly created by national societies, authoritative media, social organizations and scientific and technological workers, it aims to effectively improve the dissemination, guidance and influence of rumor debunking information, so that rumors can stop at the wise and let science outrun rumors.

List of review experts

(In order of the number of strokes of surname)

Ruan Guangfeng, Director of Science and Technology Department, Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center

Song Shuang, Associate Researcher, Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Chen Rui , teacher at the Institute of Communication Psychology, School of Journalism, Communication University of China

Tang Qin, Chief Researcher, Department of Science Popularization, Chinese Medical Association

Gu Yourong, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University

This article is produced by "Science Facts" (ID: Science_Facts). Please indicate the source when reprinting.