| | Causes of Common Cold and Possible Cures | | | | The causes of common cold symptoms are well known. Viruses enter and infect the lining of the nose causing sneezing, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, etc. Over the years, many products have been advertised as a cure for common cold symptoms, but currently there is no medical or scientific evidence supporting the validity of these claims. Many products may provide relief of symptoms, but, at least for now, the ""cure"" is simply a matter of time. Symptoms typically last for less than a week.
Hundreds of different viruses are believed to be causes of common cold symptoms. Rhino viruses, corona viruses, adenoviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, orthomyxoviruses, paramyxoviruses, syncytial virus, enteroviruses and influenza A and B viruses, as well as parainfluenza viruses can all cause common cold symptoms.
In order to find an actual cure for common cold symptoms, it would be necessary to find an anti-viral that would effectively kill all of these viruses. And probably by the time the anti-viral took effect, symptoms would have ended anyway. This could make you think that the anti-viral worked. The short life span of common cold viruses makes many so-called cures appear to be effective, when in fact the cold simply ""ran its course"".
The search for a cure for common cold symptoms is not a new thing. Although the Aztecs had no idea what the causes of common cold were, they devised a treatment which contained chili pepper, honey and tobacco. Egyptian hieroglyphs representing cold and cough symptoms have been found and Hippocrates described the symptoms in the 5th century B.C.
In the 18th century, a book by John Wesley stated that exposure to cold weather or getting a chill were causes of common cold and this is a myth that many people still believe to this day. There is no medical evidence which even remotely suggests that getting too cold will cause a ""cold"". According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, dryness of the nasal passages caused by cold weather could make the nose more susceptible to infection, but it is more likely that the causes of common cold during the winter months is related to people spending more time indoors where viruses are spread more easily.
A cure for common cold, which has made the news recently is zinc. Zinc lozenges and nasal gels containing zinc are recommended by some, but not by others. Zinc is a mineral essential to proper immune system function, as well as vision, growth and metabolism. Zinc lozenges, which are sometimes recommended as a cure for common cold symptoms are only effective about 50% of the time and then only reduce duration of cold symptoms by a few days. The zinc nasal gel may have caused the loss of the sense of smell in some people. A lawsuit was filed by people holding this belief and the suit was settled out of court, with the manufacturers admitting no fault.
High doses of zinc, used for extended periods of time may lead to anemia. The amount used in dietary supplements and some immune system boosters is the correct dosage for daily use and may help prevent colds, when used on a regular basis. Recent evidence has shown that asthmatics, who suffer from more colds than the average person, produce less anti-viral proteins that would normally fight the cold viruses, further supporting the belief that a poorly functioning immune system are causes of common cold symptoms that are severe, long lasting and lead to complications.
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