It may seem like everybody is down with the flu or sniffing with a cold, but actually fewer people are ailing now than they were this time last year.

LaDeva Enderle at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center keeps track of this kind of information supplied by school districts, doctors, offices and hospitals.

People suffering with colds and upper respiratory problems in October 2003 numbered 517, she said. This past October only 309 reported those symptoms.

"Maybe people are listening and are staying home when they don't feel well and not spreading it everywhere," she said. "All we hope is that people are washing their hands and staying home when they're sick or when their children are sick."

The numbers may be down, but people are still getting sick. Autumn is, after all, the time of year when people catch colds, develop bronchitis or get the flu.

Dr. Byron Glenn of Cape Urgent Care and Family Practice, said cold sufferers were streaming into the clinic like a runny nose.

"Right now it's mostly colds," he said. "It's a combination of flu-like symptoms, cold, bronchitis."

"We haven't had any flu at all here," said Richard Kinsey, a nurse practitioner at the Prompt Health Clinic in Jackson. "We have had the normal viruses, colds and a few instances of some that can look like strep."

Schools unaffected

What's going around hasn't been bad enough to keep children home from school. A nurse at Alma Schrader Elementary School said there was no increase in absenteeism, and Holly Hall, a nurse at Blanchard Elementary, said a few children had been out but parents had not notified her if they were out for flu or any other reason.

"We've had a few stomach aches and a few sniffles, not much," she said.

A nurse with the Jackson school system reported the same -- a few sniffles, but nothing serious.

People who go to their family doctor often get a prescription to help with the symptoms. Some tough it out at home with over-the-counter preparations, vitamin C, such herbal remedies as echinacea or chicken soup.

For a cold, bronchitis or sinus infection, Glenn at Urgent Care said he would prescribe antibiotics. For flu, he would prescribe a five-day course of Tamifleu. What he wishes he had, he said, was some flu vaccine.

Cold sufferers can find relief, he said, with Tylenol or ibuprofen for the fever and pain, and decongestants for runny noses. He said the old-tried-and-true remedies also work: lots of fluids and bed rest.

For sore throats, Kinsey suggests a tea gargle, a method he said he was skeptical of at first, but found that it works.

"It's like making iced tea the old fashioned way, boil the water let the tea bags steep," he said. "When it cools, then gargle every couple of minutes. It works way better than salt water."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-66112, extension 160