Temperature & Illness: No Link

By Janelle MacDonald, WAVE3 News

February 6, 2013 Updated Feb 5, 2013 at 8:45 PM PDT

(WAVE) You've heard it from your parents all of your life, "Zip your coat up, put your scarf on, stay warm or you're going to get sick." Doctors say there's no truth to that.

Dr. Judy Theriot and the others at University of Louisville Pediatrics are busy.

"A lot of kids with the flu," she said. "A lot of kids with other respiratory viruses."

So with up and down, roller coaster weather, record warm weather early in the week and then a 40-degree drop in 24 hours, you'd think they'd be expecting business to pick up as more people come down with illness. Dr. Theriot said you'd think wrong.

"It has nothing to do with how cold or hot it is or the changes or fluctuation in temperature," she said.

Dr. Theriot said you get colds and the flu because of viruses and viruses have nothing to do with the weather. They're spread through people.

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