If you live in the Valley you probably know someone who's been affected by what's going around. You may been affected by it as well.

Doctors are reporting several cases of upper respiratory infections, also known as, the common cold. We all know the symptoms... couging, sneezing, achiness. You may also have a fever and a sore throat.

The thing you need to know is the common cold will go away without antibiotic treatment. Antibiotics won't even shorten the duration of the illness. In fact, it may increase your risk of an antibiotic resistant infection. In other words, it's not necessary to run to your doctor begging for a prescription. What does work for relief of the coughing?
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention recommend a simple decongestant.

Doctors are not yet seeing cases of the flu. However, now that we're in January, the season is expected to start picking up. If you haven't done so, it's recommended you get a flu shot!

Something that isn't going around, but could be is lead poisoning.
There's no new contaminant causing it, but a federal advisory panel is recommending lowering the threshold for lead poisoning in children. If the recommendation is adopted, the change could mean hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. children will be classified as having lead poisoning.

Too much lead is harmful to developing brains and can mean a lower IQ. The CDC has three months to act on Wednesday's recommendation.

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