Chest infections etc in ski resorts

A snowHead

Not an additional Coronavirus thread but a bit more general. Two years running we’ve been to Montgenevre and 2 years running we’ve been ill: chest infections that required 3 courses of different antibiotics each last year (I felt like death); flu and a cold this year that we are awaiting Coronavirus results for. I’m blessed with really good health and usually sail through colds so it came as a shock. I spoke to a GP who said that chest infections are “very common in ski resorts”. This really surprised me and I should have asked why but the conversation moved on and he sounded like he was in a real hurry. My question then is, is this true, has it been your experience and why particularly ski resorts? Does the altitude weaken the immune system, Does hygiene go out the window for some reason? I would have thought I being so cold that germs are more likely to be killed than, say, on a beach holiday.

A snowHead

@bambionskiis,
Personally, the only thing that gets me at altitude is the pressure and I end up with the odd nose bleed. Apart from that I nearly always end up coming back feeling 100 times better than when I left. Compared to breathing the air in this town, skiing is therapeutic snowHead

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Not a regular occurrence for me, but I did come back from a ski trip to the Pyrenees last winter with a chest infection which my GP said became atypical pneumonia, and then seemed to translate in to a gastric infection. 10 days coughing my guts up, followed by a week of diarrhoea. Grim. I know who I caught it off, another ski instructor staying in the same hotel as us, and I know at least two other people in our group came back with a similar infection. Not sure the extent to which skiing or being at altitude affected the infection, beyond being based in the same hotel. Interestingly my GP asked me if I had been to France when he examined me, as he had seen a couple of other people with similar symptoms, both of whom had recently returned from France.

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Cold weather = more likelihood of colds/flu hence why winter is "flu season". A lot of people get tired and run down from the exertion of skiing making them less resistant. Sick people then pass it on during flight.

Altitude usually means low humidity and cold air which can cause coughs (see "khumbu cough"). I don't think altitude has much effect on the bodies resistance (at least at the altitudes ski resorts are, which tend to be pretty low in the grand scheme of things).

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I always have a runny nose whilst skiing, but never a cold or bad chest. The mountain air clears my breathing passages

However, on return to the smog, I usually have a sore throat and cough in the couple of weeks after return, until my body builds up a layer of mucus to protect itself.

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I am the opposite. I get ill when ever I go to warm/hot climate. I put it down to the atmospheric conditions. As mentioned above, humidity & pressure.
I know they do not recommend high altitude if you suffer from various conditions like Heart Failure & even high blood pressure

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When I used to fly on trips most seasons would get very bad infections pneumonia or bronchitis on at least a dozen years have driven last three years no major problems .read into that what you will.

I've had one chest infection and one cold since I've lived here, which I think it an improvement on when I was in the UK. Pretty sure I caught both viruses at work, so really nothing to do with where I live, but both happened in winter.

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I've spent 3 winters in Chamonix and for the past 2 have had maybe one seasonal cold each winter. This winter I feel like I've been ill since December and have either had something chronic like sinusitis or just a collection of colds/infections in a row. Feel like I'm finally coming out the end of a chest infection now.

I would imagine illnesses are more common in ski resorts using the same reasoning as fresher's flu. A large group of disparate people all coming together in metal boxes with recycled air, then proceeding to ruin their immune systems with booze, poor diet, insufficient sleep and shagging each other. Except instead of once a term its a new set every week!

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A snowHead

I dont have too many problems living here although perhaps a few more stomach issues. I think ski resorts are notorious for that too.

About 10 years ago though I went to Tignes, where I've been many other times, in October. From the moment we arrived I developed a persistent cough. On leaving it stopped just as suddenly as we got down to Bourg St Maurice.

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Used to be the running joke, at least one of our gang used to go down with Val D'isease every trip.

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I get a cold 3-4x per year but don’t associate ski trips with chest infections, especially not requiring antibiotics.

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"chest infection" is a term that means different things to different people. If 3 different antibiotics were required then its highly likely it was viral. The main issue is that abroad the bacteria can have different susceptibility due primarily to overuse ( especially Spain). Unless you had a chest x-ray to confirm or a blood test that can help confirm an atypical such as mycoplasma I would be cautious in diagnosing a pneumonia. It's quite uncommon not to need a hospital admission for genuine pneumonia.
I often tend to get a respiratory infection after flying, and the cold dry air at altitude can cause a dry cough, but I would disagree that it is skiing perse that makes "chest infections" more likely

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@risb98, yes

And why on earth would it be more likely to develop a chest infection in a ski resort?

Er...

1 a high proportion of people flying to the resort, passing through large airports full of co-mingling people, coughing any virus into the air
2 these people then mixing with others in large overheated chalet for 14 days during the evening, coughing any virus into the air
3 these people then mixing with hundreds of others during each day in hot, humid, crowded restaurants, coughing any virus into the air
4 these people going to hot, crowded bars, coughing any virus into the air
5 the dry atmosphere at altitude dry mucous membranes out and stimulating more coughing by everyone

Same reason that universities experience higher than typical levels of meningitis - just the pure mechanism of putting a lot of new people together in a new place.

We drive for four of our trips (full car so reasonably green). We stay in our own place. We ski in small villages or out and about in the hill.
We never have terrible colds or coughs caused by being there.
However, my partner got into the car here before half-term, coughing like a sheep, and yep, after nine hours in the car sitting next to her hacking away and filling the air with whatever she had contracted at the university, I got it two days later....grrrrr

A snowHead

@valais2, I think you've got it.

People often pick up coughs and colds in winter, but they're not usually bad enough to stay off work etc. They then bring it with them to the ski resort where the dry air exacerbates the cough and the cold makes their nose run more, and pass it on to everyone else in the chalet/hotel who has come from somewhere else and not previously been exposed to that virus.

I guess some people are more susceptible to chest infections. I don't think I've ever had one.

I had the same when I moved out here, cough and cold within the first week. By now, I've probably had exposure to all the local bugs and rarely get ill. I don't tend to mix with tourists, so don't have too much opportunity to catch theirs.

As mentioned above, the mountain air is much cleaner than Leeds, and my breathing has improved massively (I used to always be bunged up due to pollution). There's nothing bad about skiing and being in the mountains per se, it's more down to the other people who come with you.

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[quote="Scarlet"]@valais2, I think you've got it.

People often pick up coughs and colds in winter, but they're not usually bad enough to stay off work etc. They then bring it with them to the ski resort where the dry air exacerbates the cough and the cold makes their nose run more, and pass it on to everyone else in the chalet/hotel who has come from somewhere else and not previously been exposed to that virus.

I guess some people are more susceptible to chest infections. I don't think I've ever had one.

Very lucky and hope it stays that way. Interesting about Dry air and coughs too as of course this would help spread germs. Especially in the close proximity of a gondola!!

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I have had Asthma for over 50 years since a child. A ski resort normally results in the clearest chest imaginable. Seems a non evidence based comment by the GP. Off to Zermatt next week, and hope to be skiing into northern Italy. snowHead

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When I was a young but severe, constant asthmatic, also over 50 years ago, they used to send people like me to 'special schools' up in the Swiss mountains. Nice clean crisp air, and all that.
But my parents didn't want me to go... Confused

I was at boarding school on the Essex coast and remember a few girls who were sent there because the sea air was meant to be better for their asthma.

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I was at boarding school on the Essex coast and remember a few girls who were sent there because the sea air was meant to be better for their asthma.

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Chest infections etc in ski resorts

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