March 13, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR NORRIE ROBBINS IN CA
I have a couple of thoughts to share about mass illnesses. Usually you read that respiratory diseases are more common where people have to come indoors in the winter, in places having a winter. But my physicist dad, Arthur Iberall, taught me to follow weather patterns when I am thinking about this issue. He wondered if viruses and bacteria emerged from the soil with the onset of the rainy season, in places having a rainy season. And I recognized that fungi emerge when the snow cover is removed, in places having a snow cover.

Another thing he taught is that there are three main ways that things happen: when processes act competitively, cooperatively, or neutral with respect to each other. He said that when you recognize something big has happened (in your case, lots of people being sick at the same time), follow the leads to see what processes are acting cooperatively. For example, maybe you are watching a random convergence between 20 or so different processes: weather (rain, snowfall, melting), human behavior (cooped up people, stress, exams, depression, lots of people popping inappropriate pills), biology (new strains of bacteria), medicine (failure of conventional medications), etc.
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A: FROM MENTOR DESIREE BUTTER IN PA
There are answers to your questions about winter illnesses at the University
of Iowa's website on respiratory disorders, specifically their page on the
common cold:
http://www.uuhsc.utah.edu/healthinfo/pediatric/respiratory/uricold.htm .
There are certain viruses which are more common in the summer, however, if
you get respiratory symptoms every August, I would strongly consider the
possibility that you have allergies.