This is Rose Guccione for “This Operatic Minute” sponsored by OperaGram.com.
Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nothing can be more true when it comes to care of the nose.
During Chicago winters, no one is more concerned with catching the common cold than is the opera singer. Congestion affects the singer’s resonators and can lead to sinus infection which, in turn, can cause other parts of the ever so sympathetic respiratory system to become infected such as the naso-pharynx, ears, trachea, and lungs.
If you are a person who likes to pick your nose, you may want to stop. On any given normal day, your hands touch objects that carry bacteria. Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. for short, is one bacterium that can survive outside of its human host. In its extreme case, it can cause life-threatening inflammation of the colon.
Picking your nose may also cause non-bacterium related medical emergencies. Drivers in heavy traffic may often be observed picking their nose. If these same drivers were to be rear-ended by a distracted driver on a cell phone, the nose picker could be met by an exploding air bag. The coroner’s report could read “death by means of embedded finger in brain.” Oh, horror!
So please, if you want to stay well this cold and flu season, stop picking your nose. Doing so may save your life.
For this “Operatic Minute,” I am Rose Guccione from OperaGram.com.