Cold Weather and Illness: A Word from Mexico's AAP

Recently, I decided to look into why it was that so many people here believe what our grandmas still believe about cold air, baths, and bare feet causing illness. I also wanted to find something in Spanish, written not for US patients but for Central American patients, that I could show literate parents to help correct some myths about this subject. I couldn't find a single Spanish language website addressing the issue of illness and cold weather that did not support the following concept that cold air and rapid weather changes cause infectious disease, much less one that tried to dispell the myth. Most of the sites were published by phyisicians, ministries of health, or respected authorities like the WHO (yes, one of the worst was a publication from Bolivia's Regional WHO office). Apologies in advance to those who don't read Spanish (I did translate the first line). I would love anyone's thoughts on why it is that US health authorities have cast away these beliefs but that even well-trained health authorities in Central America haven't. Can we be sure that "we" are right?

Los cambios climáticos son la principal causa de aumento de otitis, faringitis, sinusitis y neumonía en los primeros meses del año aseguró, el doctor Herbert López González, ex presidente de la Asociación Mexicana de Pediatría.

(The climate changes are the principle cause of the rise in otitis, pharyngitis, sinusitis, and pneumonia during the first months of the year, confirmed Dr. Herbert Lopez Gonzalez, ex-president of the Mexican Association of Pediatrics.)

“Nuestros hospitales y nuestros consultorios, han tenido una mayor demanda de atención por enfermedades de esta naturaleza, seguramente porque ha sido un poco más extremoso el clima, explicó.”

Los cambios climáticos que se esperan para los dos meses siguientes, pueden afectar la salud de los pequeños; Las principales medidas de prevención para evitar infecciones respiratorias en los niños son: una adecuada alimentación, pues un niño bien nutrido es menos susceptible de enfermarse; evitarle cambios bruscos de temperatura, mantenerlos abrigados, darles constantemente líquidos, frutas y verduras ricas en vitaminas A y C para reforzar el sistema inmunológico, asegurarse que su esquema de vacunación esté completo y evitar fumar cerca de ellos.