July 7 - Over-the-counter meds vs. COVID; Internet outage ahead
Section 1
Anteater Time Machine: Horses tied up near the Irvine Town Center, across Campus Drive from UCI, in 1965.
In this continuing series, UCI experts answer questions about COVID-19, vaccinations, variants or the future of work. Submit questions via email.
Today’s question is fielded by Dr. Susan Huang, medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention:
If someone has COVID-19, do over-the-counter treatments such as antihistamines, expectorants, cough suppressants, zinc and/or pain medications (ibuprofen, aspirin, etc.) help or make things worse?
Although no one has directly studied over-the-counter medications and COVID-19, the general guidance used for other cold and flu illnesses should apply here:
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In general, these over-the-counter medications are helpful for comfort. They also can decrease the chance of spreading infection by reducing runny noses, sneezing and cough.
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However, remember that fever helps you fight infection. If you have a low or moderate fever that isn’t bothering you, it’s better to let your body fight the infection on its own.
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Also, although it’s fine to take over-the-counter medications that make you feel better, don’t use them to mask symptoms so you can still go to work or socialize and risk infecting others.
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Zinc has proven to be effective in shortening the duration of colds, although you have to take a lot of lozenges. Whether that benefit extrapolates to COVID-19 is still under study, but I would take it.
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
Internet outage planned for Friday night
As part of a multimillion dollar upgrade to UCI’s internet access and security, the Office of Information Technology will shut down campus and medical center internet services from 10 p.m. Friday to midnight, followed by intermittent, brief outages until 10 a.m. Saturday. For details on which services will be affected, visit https://www.oit.uci.edu/2022/06/21/uci-campus-internet-upgrade/
UCI Health honored for sustainability efforts
Practice Greenhealth, a national organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in healthcare, honored UCI Health with three awards for its climate, energy and overall sustainability efforts.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
Got COVID? Working from home can backfire, doctors say
“Sleep equals immunity,” one researcher said. While fighting off the virus, “you want to have your immune system not distracted by anything else,” including stress from work.
Secrets of coronavirus ‘brain fog’ starting to lift
Researchers studying mice with mild COVID-19 infections discovered the virus disrupted the normal activity of several brain cell populations and left behind signs of inflammation. More studies are needed to see how the results translate into treatments for human patients.
State funds effort to boost diversity in STEM Ph.D. programs
California will spend $5 million on the Cal-Bridge program, which offers a pathway for underrepresented community college and state university students to pursue Ph.D. degrees through the University of California and join the state’s science and technology workforce. UCI is one of the founders of the program.