hello. good to see you. i'm arthel neville. time for "sunday house call." >> i'm eric shawn. joining us is professor of medicine at nyu's medical center and author of "the inner pulse: unlocking the code of sickness and health." >> and chairman and professor of urology at linux hill hospital and chief of robotics surgery. >> good to see you. >> i want to start here, though, a stark new warning about smoking. okay, there is a new report suggesting lighting up is actually more dangerous than it was 50 years ago. and this as the centers for

disease control releases some of those most shocking anti-smoking ads we've seen so far. dr. siegle, i tell you what, when those ads come on, i don't smoke, so i'm not the target audience, i turn them off. they really gross me out. they're really aggressive. why is smoking so easy, and why are those campaigns -- anti-smoking campaigns getting more aggressive? >> the first thing you're referring to is called campaign for tobacco-free kids where they are showing that cigarettes themselves are worse in a certain sense than they were 50 years ago when the surgeon general put out his first warning. they've got more nicotine, more sugars in them, porous filters so it's easy to get it deep into your amongs, ammonia so it will act on your brain faster. they were bad 50 years ago. they're bad now. 20% of americans still smoke. why? a lot of people come to my office still smoking. here's the first thing i want to tell you out there. i can't be your doctor, but i can tell you what to say to your doctor. tell your doctor why you are still smoking. don't be afraid to say that.

it's a very hard habit to get rid of. do not be embarrassed about it. your doctor, if he's smart, will tell that you when you quit, your risks of all kinds go down. heart disease, lung disease, cancer goes way, way down if you stop smoking. now, in college, arthel, i actually smoked. and i'll tell you something. you know how i quit? because i want to refer to the cdc for a minute. >> you met me. >> no, if he met you, that would make him smoke even more. kidding. >> i didn't smoke a lot. but when i got into anatomy lab, and david price said the same thing. when i saw a smoker's lung for the first time. not a tv ad, not what it does to you in terms of disability, but the actual lung is so black and so eroded compared to a pink, healthy lung. everyone out there, if you saw what a lung looked like, you might think of quitting. >> but even if they don't, i mean, and dr. siegle mentioned how he used to smoke and that he stopped. what about if you stopped 15 years ago, 10 years ago, you still are at risk for lung cancer, right? >> that's an excellent point because the effect on smoking

actually stays in your system for about 15 to 20 years. so if you haven't started, don't even bother to do it. if you are smoking, go to 1-800-quit-now. and if you fail the first time, it doesn't mean that you can't go back and really stop smoking. now, i think the engineering and what these companies have done, billions of dollars in really engineering behind creating new cigarettes. what is a cigarette today in 2014 look like compared to 1968? it's phenomenal what they have done. the filter that they use makes you -- so these are three things that they have done. meaning open up your lungs so more smoke goes in. they're using material that can go straight to your brain much faster. and also the amount of nicotine that they are using is a lot more. so it's addictive, easier access and affecting your brain and the addictive part much faster. so they have done an amazing job. for example, this nitro that they are using, it makes the smoke and nicotine get to your

brain much faster. we didn't have that kind of stuff. the amount of carcinogen that's gone into it. now, the cdc and the country has spent about $50 million in 2010. remember teri hall, the lady that came in and sounded off and unfortunately she died of throat cancer. before she died, she wanted everyone to hear what throat cancer looks like. now they're going to invest more of these ads. so within the next three weeks or so, we're going to see a lot of ads about teenagers, about dying men and women out there. and it's effective. when people see that. that's the one with the lady putting it on because she has a trach. >> lifestyle, it doesn't occur in a vacuum. people that smoke tend to drink more. people that smoke tend to be more sedentary. they don't exercise or watch their diet. we're talking about fruits and vegetables all the time here at mediterranean diets. it's less likely you're going to do that. people that smoke are not going to get on that treadmill. it's all one package. you have to do it all at the same time.

>> eric, what the companies have done also, it's very interesting. i don't know if you lived in europe or not, but i've been in frabs and i lived in london about three years. when you see teenagers and the number of smokers in europe among teenagers is skyrocketing. and the reason is because it tastes great. it's not harsh anymore. they have added sugar. they have added chocolate flavors that you are not aware of. >> they added sugar in cigarettes? >> sugar so it tastes great and less harshness on your throat. for example, menthol cigarettes. it numbs the throat. they have done an amazing job. >> imagine european teenagers. you go around the schools and young girls especially, it's kind of a fad. how do you get them at 13, 14, 15, 16 years old to stop what would be a lifetime habit? >> i'll tell you one thing you do. you stamp out e-cigarettes, too. >> oh, my goodness, i hate e-cigarettes. >> you go right to a 7-eleven, buy your cigarettes. 80% of kids end up with regular tobacco, too. that's the problem. it's part of peer pressure.

also, we can reverse the peer pressure by role models just as we've done with alcohol. >> the parents are also guilty because if you grow up in a family where everyone is smoking, you're going to end up smoking as well. >> some kids do it to rebel against the parents. >> look, it's also, i have to say, even though i've never been able to smoke, i never learned how to smoke, it's cool. it's sexy. i think people follow that trend. so, you know, look. it's going to affect your lungs. it affects the entire body, causes -- unless you see some of these pictures, you see what smoking does to you, you will not quit. >> smoking among doctors is way down. >> i want to talk about the e-cigarettes. i know you're really against it and i hate them as well. you mentioned how it makes it look so sexy, the e-cigarettes. >> and it's flavored. >> tell them that it's bad for you. >> regular cigarettes are flavored. e-cigarettes are flavored. they taste great. and you see other people doing them. i actually think there's a role for them in really severe

recalcitrant smokers where a doctor is involved. but people on the street should not be using e-cigarettes. it's going to lead you to tobacco. >> it's a good time to admit the positive influence i've had on you. >> cigars but also hookah bars. kids in their 20s, they go down and do that. >> it's all bad. >> it's very bad for you. >> it's all addictive. it's all getting into the lungs. and the effect of it, as arthel mentioned, it stays with you for a long time. 1-800-quit-now. and go for it. and if you fail the first time, you should go back again. >> keep trying. >> really change your life. >> quit, quit, quit if you can. >> different modalities for different people. different strokes for different folks to get you to quick. >> we'll follow up on this very important issue. meanwhile talking about coughing, does your grandchild or little one constantly cough or maybe show signs of the common cold? well, coming up, we'll tell you why that actually may be a symptom of something that's far more serious and what you can do about it. this is "sunday house call" with all of the advice that you need to stay healthy.

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enjoy the relief. back now on "sunday house call." symptoms resemble the common cold, but now a new study says that about one-fifth of children who are persistent coughs, they may be suffering from whooping cough. doctor, whooping cough. what is it? i mean, it sounds like it's from the 19th century. >> yes, it's a respiratory infection caused by bacteria, extremely contagious, and it's transferred from one person to another person by these respiratory droplets. exactly the way you describe it had. it starts like a cold, runny nose, congestion. and then after two weeks, you start having these hacking coughs that's not going away, so you have the cough and then followed by this whooping noise. and that's why they call them whooping cough.

and really, the way -- the reason why we don't hear a lot of this is because vaccination really took care of it. there are two reasons why we're seeing an increase in. whoing cough. one is under the age of 6 months, you don't get the vaccination. so those infants are in danger. we just had about 800 cases in the first two weeks in june in california. so there's an uprise over there. and also, the effect of this vaccine can wear off by the time you get to your teenage years. so now we see about 20% of the kids that are having these kind of cough. it could be whooping cough. if you have it, you need to see your doctor and make sure you're up to your vaccinations. this study particularly came from england because we give booster shots for this. but in europe, they don't give it. so now they see more and more in europe, and the recommendation, i think, mark is going to cover that, that you need to get your visual vaccine plus the booster. >> you talk about six months or under, you can't have the vaccination. what about parents and how do

you stop it? and over 6 months, should they all have this vaccination? >> yes to the second question first. all kids should have it over the age of 6 months. and the problem is, it's deadly in kids because -- it can be because they have smaller airways. so they get it all clogged up. you start off with the upper respiratory symptoms. a week or two into it, you get this whooping cough like that. literally, you can't miss it if you hear it. that's in kids. now, if kids have it, they can be treated with an antibiotics, ar arithromycin or zithromax. clearly important, adolescents should be getting a booster vaccination. the centers for disease control recommends it. somewhere between 15 to 20. you should get another one. but listen. >> doctors are recommending that now? >> absolutely. and listen, it isn't just pertussis. it's called tdap between 15 and 20 and then we adults should get it for the reason eric just mentioned which is, you know, you could be spreading it to your kids.

i think it's one of the most common causes of cough in my office. i have to tell you, people come in, you know, they have a virus, i think. that cough doesn't go away. and then i end up treating them with zithromax or antibiotic and it does go away. i think we are underdiagnosing this in adults because adults don't get that whoop. they only get a chronic cough. >> it's more of a nuisance. >> yes. >> right? >> yes. >> it really doesn't hurt, from what i understand, the adults. it's not going to affect or it's not going to kill them. >> exactly. >> it's most of the infants you want to worry about. i'm not going to try to repeat the cough, but if you have that, you want to make sure that you not only start vaccinating and also give the antibiotics. the effect of this cough in the entire system is so bad that sometimes you can actually break ribs. you can rupture the esophagus, you can blow up vessels in the eyes. >> and that's horrible -- >> can adults get it from kids? >> absolutely. i do think we should treat adults because if you've ever had one of tho coughs

that don't go away, what do i do now? it may be that it's pertussis which is a bacteria. >> it's interesting. i didn't have whooping cough, but i had this cough last year. remember for about two months, and i went to him as a joke. i said, do i have whooping cough? he said no, just take some antacid. >> and it worked. >> $25 co-pay later, i felt so much better. >> he can afford it. he can afford it. >> seriously, why did an antacid fix it? >> because of your esophagus. >> because of all that coughing that he believes in. >> if you have a persistent cough, it could be acid reflux. >> yeah. a lot of people have that. >> check that out, too. thank you. >> you guys okay now? you settled? >> we're good. >> i paid my co-pay. >> all right. listen to this. we're talking about symptoms including scratchy throat, watery eyes. here's the question. is it just a persistent cold, or could it be allergies? still ahead, how you can spot the difference and what you can

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now for "should i worry?" it's our weekly segment about everything that worries us. asking, i had a cold, but my scratchy throat, stuffed nose and watery eyes have persisted. is this still my cold, or is it an allergy? dr. siegle, this is a big question because a lot of people are suffering from allergies these days. you don't want to ignore it if it's allergies. you've got to treat it right. what do you do? >> this is probably because of the overuse of z-packs we talk about a lot. here's what you do. how long have you had the

symptoms, patients? how long have you had the symptoms? because colds go away. allergies don't go away. so if it persists for weeks, it's more likely an allergy. that's number one. number two, itchy, watery eyes are weeks, it's most likely an allergy. number two, itchy eyes, watery eyes is usually an allergy. cough is usually a cold unless you have allergy. so if you have fever, if you have body aches and if it's in a short period of time, that is a cold. i worry about a cold. you might say why do i care whether it's a cold or allergy? colds you can transmit to others around you. they're contagious. i want people to know if they have a cold, stay home from people, stay home from work. allergies persist, they lead to itchy eyes, they lead to dry throats and they lead to nasal congestion. if the nasal congestion is yellow, you think of a cold. if it's clear, you have an allergy. >> how do you treat an allergy? do you just get stuff over the

counter? >> talk to the doctor. try to get away from the pollen, stay inside all the time. you can use ant hissihistamines. >> what if you're coughing and coughing and coughing, z-packs don't work like bronchitis, and what about prednisone to reduce the ininflammation? if you can't knock out the inflammation, you're going to be coughing. >> let's try to figure out whether it's allergies versus flu. flu has a period of one or two weeks. allergies can go on much longer. as long as you're exposed to those allergens, whatever is causing it, you'll have the allergy reaction. flu is caused by a virus, this one is not. with cold you're going to have fever, whereas allergies will never give you fever. the last point is that the mucus is usually yellow or green with

flu, whereas with allergies, it's clear. now, once you have the flu and it's overtreated or not treated with the right antibiotics, that's what you're trying to get to, that's going to get into the deeper part of your lungs, which is the bronchi and causes inflammation, which is bronchitis. then you have to treat it with antibiotics, steroids, et cetera. >> heavy duty i ones. >> i think a lot of times we're overprescribing z-packs for allergies. if you're taking claritin and zyrtec, maybe you shouldn't take antibiotics. >> if you think, i just have allergies, you may go underdiagnosed or undertreated for the flu. >> clearly with the flu you have to get treated early on. this time of year, though, we don't usually see influenza.

if you have a fever and your mucus is yellow, you want to be seen. by the way, you could have both. you could vhave an allergy and cold. you could have both at the same time. >> whether they come with a cough or fever, i would check the psa first, the prostate, and then i'm going to send to you him. >> take an aspirin and call me in the morning. >> if you have a question for the doctors, you can e-mail them. housecallfoxnews.com is the address. if you have something that's worrying you, send an e-mail and they will get to it on the air. all your names and e-mail addresses are kept completely confidential, and they still promise not to send you a bill. >> we want to hear from you. it is more than just a way to keep in touch. with millions of microbes on the surface, your cell phone is actually a reflection of your bacterial fingerprint. we're going to tell you how

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back now with "sunday house call." did you know that your cell phone is also a bacterial fingerprint? doctors say it could be used for tracking the spread of diseases. doctor, tell me about the

bacteria on my cell phone. >> it's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you recall about a year ago, we covered a story about your keyboard which has organisms. most of those bugs were staph and strep. some of them are good, some of them are not so good. the idea behind this is the university of oregon actually looked at everyone's cell phone, about 75 people. they analyzed it and they found about 70,000 bacteria running around. the good news is a company like apple will actually use your phone to find out what bacteria you have. one person versus another one could be completely different. i'm not sure where this is really going and how we're going to use this data. a lot of bacteria may not be harmful to us.

it's an interesting finding. we can almost use it as a thermometer. >> if you used someone else's phone, could you get sick from using their phone? >> of course, because the stomach bug, 67% of them are carried on your hand. what's on your hands are on your phone. people use their cell phones all day long, especially tv anchors. they use them every five minutes, or physicians, every 10 seconds. hand me your phone there. i want to show you something. there is a big battle going on. this cloth is safe. you can wipe down this phone with this cloth. but what the battle is iphones are now coated and there is a battle whether you could use alcohol and water -- >> just spray it on there? >> no, you would never spray it directly on the phone, but could you spray it on the cloth and then on the phone? you could actually interfere with the coating on the phone. >> someone tweeted saying i hate smokers. no, i don't hate people, i hate

smoke, thank you very much. i love people. so there. >> it's not allowed. in a public place, you can't smoke. >> fine with me. >> it's an acute study. we'll see how it pans out in the future. we can learn about you from your phone. >> where is your iphone? >> we've got to go. that does it for us. the suspect in the benghazi attack that killed four americans gets its first day in court. ak m achmed abu khattala faces court. president obama ponders exactly how far the u.s. will go to help, and one iraq vet in the house affairs committee says it's time to consider more action. and a check on presidential power. the supreme court rules against some of president obama's recess