What are the risk factors for upper respiratory infection?
Some common risk factors for upper respiratory infection are: • physical or close contact with someone with a upper respiratory infection; • poor hand washing after contact with an individual with upper respiratory infection; • close contact with children in a group setting, schools or daycare centers; • contact with groups of individuals in a closed setting, such as, traveling, tours, cruises; • smoking or second-hand smoking (may impair mucosal resistance and destroy the cilia); • health care facilities, hospitals, nursing homes; • immunocompromised state (compromised immune system) such as, HIV, organ transplant, congenital immune defects, long term steroid use; and • anatomical abnormalities as in facial trauma, upper airway trauma, nasal polyps. What are the symptoms of upper respiratory infection? Generally, the symptoms of upper respiratory infection result from the toxins released by the pathogens as well as the inflammatory response mounted by the immune system to fight the in
