Do People Really Get Sick When It Rains

[deejah]

urban legend?

myth

or for real??????

[meom]

Only when it's purple.

[chinthee]

Thai people use the opportunity to procaim themselves "sick." I guess this is natural because they don't get "sick days" like we do in the west.

Yeah, happens a lot.

[Mobi]

urban legend?

myth

or for real??????

I recently had bad fever and cold and it was all blamed on some rain when we were in Chiang Mai - even though I didn't even get wet!!

Or spend too long in the pool or sea?

Every time a member of family - usually the kids - come down with a cold or fever, it is because they"spent too much time in the water". Ok this might apply in temperate climes, but not out here, surely?

I too would love to know

[WilliamCave]

I think the polution in the air comes down with he rain and that might contrbute.

only a thaught

[qualtrough]

I used to be troubled by asthma, but it has almost disappeared since I have lived in Thailand a long time. I recall people here saying that rain brings asthma attacks, but I used to laugh at that as I could see no reason for that being true. However, my laughter stopped when I noticed that I was having attacks when it was rainy. Whether that was psychosomatic or there is a scientific reason for that I do not know. I do recall a doctor here telling me that tropical plants have very little allergenic pollen, so that probably accounts for my lack of asthma. No ragweed at least!

[Farma]

I asked a friend who operates a number of pharmacies with the majority of customers being Thai.

As an indication, April and January are their best months for sales.

[PeaceBlondie]

In the English speaking world, it is highly believed even among 'educated folks' that cold air causes the common cold. Indeed, the term may have been invented for that reason. I read that the US Army did a scientific experiment and proved that it was only a legend. After all, the 'common cold' is a viral infection!

However, it's generally agreed that people with low immunity are more susceptible when there's a change in climate.

It rains in many part of Thailand for roughly half the year. Within days of the onset of the rainy season, the pollution disappears, washed away, almost daily. If rain caused illness, Thais would all be sick half the year and nothing would get done!

I suspect it's an old rural myth based on nonscientific folklore.

[Tywais]

I used to get hay fever badly every summer in the US. Since I've been in Thailand, it has never occurred. Another issue regarding rain and that people are probably more clustered (staying indoors together) and may 'spread' a cold/virus more easily (just a thought).

I do hear Thais sometimes say when they have a cold/flu - agaht bleein - change in weather.

[PeaceBlondie]

My Chiang Mai-native partner blames his winter sicknesses on the cold. If he were in England or Ireland, he'd always be ill!

[Mid]

I think the polution in the air comes down with he rain and that might contrbute.

only a thaught

and a very good one .............................

[h5n1]

Yes, many people have lower immune systems that when chilled make them ill. The muck, mud and air also can stir up alergies. Taken in total - that's how it happens.

Think about how crappy you feel when its 36 for two months straight with no air-con.

[canadiangirl]

My Thai friend always told me things like this: rain makes you sick, don't eat peanuts before bedtime, they'll make you sick. He also told me that you shouldn't use A/C when you're sick. I thought this was a load of crap -- who wants to be sweating it out in the BKK heat when you have a cold -- but I tried turning off the A/C once to humor him, and I felt so much better!

So --- who knows? Maybe rain makes you sick. :-P

[tutsiwarrior]

in Indonesia they say if it rains on yer heid ye get a stomach ache; 'hujan kepala - sakit barriga...' (sorry folks, can't remember the bahasa word fer stomach... )

[Orion76]

There was a clinical study about this in the UK a few years ago.

One large group of people was subjected to cold temperatures in wet clothes daily for a week, another equally sized group was provided with comfort and warmth during the same period.

Half of each group had the rhino virus sprayed into their nostrils and the other half a placebo.

There was no significant difference in how many people caught the common cold between the group that had been in the uncomfortable wet cold environment and the group that had been in the comfortable dry and warm environment.

[KhaoNiaw]

I suspect it's an old rural myth based on nonscientific folklore.

Which often turns out to have a point, does it not?

I've no idea really, but I remember that as a small child my daughter seemed susceptible to changes in the weather. I don't think it was necessarily rain that brought it on, rather a series of sudden chnages in temperature, humidity etc.

[sugarhead]

in Indonesia they say if it rains on yer heid ye get a stomach ache; 'hujan kepala - sakit barriga...' (sorry folks, can't remember the bahasa word fer stomach... )

perut.....

[WaiWai]

I think cold/wet conditions esp. if one's a bit tired/run down can cause a "chill". Feverish & shaky but lasts just a night. Hot bath, hot soup and getting to bed early will fix it.

A cold is a virus and lasts 7 days with treatment and a week without.

Edited September 22, 2007 by WaiWai

[t.s]

it s been raining all week and my whole office is coughing

[tsambam]

This is true simply because a cold-virus doesn't survive a temperature over +19 Celcius, thus it lasts longer on surfaces when it is colder (raining). You can't get a cold/flu just by getting cold, you need the infection as well. Though it is true that the body can fight an infection better if it doesn't have to consume energy to produce heat (optimum operative temperature is around 21c - higher in dryer air).

[Nataraja]

I've had students in university classes here tell me that you should wash rain off of your body immediately or you will get sick. Others have told me you only get sick if your head gets wet.

We were taught in west that you can become sick if you are overly tired and go quickly from extreme heat to extreme cold.

I was on a non-air bus in Bangkok once when it started to drizzle. People immediately started close all the windows. I noticed that several were sneezing and coughing openly into the unventilated bus, spreading what ever germs they may have been hosting.

Up to you.

[Orion76]

I noticed that several were sneezing and coughing openly into the unventilated bus, spreading what ever germs they may have been hosting.

Good point

Perhaps the effect of Thais packing into confined spaces to shelter from the rain and sneezing and coughing on each other is what causes cold and flu outbreaks during the rainy season...

[Dr. Burrito]

I believe this most likely happens from prolonged exposure, certainly if there is a lower temperature variance, as the body is suddenly forced to fight on several fronts, this making it more susceptible to illness.

We used to work out in the rain on a regular basis and I cannot remember one time of getting ill from it, but we were never stuck in it for more than 30 minutes or so at a time. Had we been out there for a lot longer, it might have been a different story.

Also, like someone else mentioned here earlier, there is a probably a pollution factor to consider as well.

Dr. B

[Firefan]

Yes - one theory I heard was that the rain stirred up all the stuff(human/animal/plant "stuff" - you name it....) stuck/dried up in/on the ground and the mist created being a heaven of viri and bacterias. Cheers!

[Tony Clifton]

I've heard this rain/colds thing before and always reply with a question.

Do you get colds because you take showers daily?

[tourleadersi]

Rain does increase cases of illness but indirectly.

Just like winter in Northern Europe where the temperature gets colder, the rainy season leads to more peope staying in doors. Whether is be at home or crowded into a shop whilst the storm passes the human to human contact level is far higher and therefore increases the chances of these illnesses spreading. So the cold weather and rain does increase infection rates, but through bringing hosts into closer contact with the unifected. Its simply a law of averages. How many times do you crown into a store during nice weather versus bad? People who are ill are more prone to avoid bad weather and head to areas of shelter where healthy people are staying in an attempt to avoid getting ill!

[PeaceBlondie]

The other night the partner left for work and warned me not to run the fan to blow onto me while I slept, because that cold air would make me get a fever. I turned the fan on, slept all night, and woke up to 24 degrees with no fever. Old wives' tales, old boyfriends' tales. He doesn't believe I slept countless nights at 2,100-meter altitude, with only a sheet over me, at 15 degrees.

[lazeeboy]

just before a heavy rain fall ,isometimes get a headache..........

[helicoptor]

I am feeling under the weather at the moment

the weather? more likely the excess of the weekend

[qualtrough]

The other night the partner left for work and warned me not to run the fan to blow onto me while I slept, because that cold air would make me get a fever. I turned the fan on, slept all night, and woke up to 24 degrees with no fever. Old wives' tales, old boyfriends' tales. He doesn't believe I slept countless nights at 2,100-meter altitude, with only a sheet over me, at 15 degrees.

You are lucky you are still alive

Wikipedia: Fan death is a South Korean urban legend which states that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can result in the death (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia) of those inside. This belief also extends to air conditioners.[citation needed] Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.