IV.

Prevention and Treatment of Colds

No cure is known for the common cold and no preventive drug has yet been found. Various antihistamine drugs were once claimed to be effective in the prevention of colds if taken at the onset, but that view has been discredited. American chemist and Nobel laureate Linus Pauling proposed that large doses of vitamin C can prevent a cold or alleviate its symptoms, but subsequent studies have failed to substantiate his claim. There is some evidence, however, that vitamin C can shorten the duration of a cold.

Present-day methods of treating a cold are directed toward the relief of symptoms through over-the-counter preparations, especially those containing aspirin or acetaminophen. Many remedies are available that soothe symptoms but do not shorten the length of a cold. Physicians advise against giving aspirin to children and teenagers because it has been linked with a rare disease called Reye’s syndrome that can develop after a viral infection. In addition, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended in 2007 that over-the-counter cold preparations be banned for children under the age of six. The panel reported that these remedies do not lessen symptoms in young children and in rare cases cause serious complications.

Physicians also advise people with colds to drink plenty of fluids. Bed rest may be recommended to avoid complications, even when the cold itself is not incapacitating. Antibiotics, which fight bacterial infections, should not be administered because nearly all colds are caused by viruses rather than by bacteria. Antibiotics may be prescribed if sinus or middle-ear infections develop; however, they are ineffective as a preventive measure.