HOW TO CATCH COLD
Harding, T. Swann
How To Catch Cold By T. SWANN HARDING YOU do not have to run to catch cold. That can be accomplished with ease while you sit still. Once you have the cold it will last two weeks, if untreated. If...
...Later work has confirmed theirs...
...WHILE the makers of Listerine are now permitted by the Federal Trade Commission to advertise that this product prevents colds and sore throats when used as a mouthwash, the American Medical Association does not subscribe to that theory, and physicians in the employ of the Food and Drug Administration have in the past denounced it heatedly...
...Thus it is with colds...
...WHY then do seemingly intelligent people insist that they can prevent or cure their colds with this and that, and become quite angry if you do not believe them...
...The Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 1945, said that common vasoconstrictor drugs themselves could produce a rhinitis indistinguishable from that due to allergy...
...24, 1938...
...Possibly also the various ailments to which we refer as colds and influenza are really a group of different diseases rather than any single disease...
...Individuals who are free from colds and those who have them have about the same kind of bacteria in their nasopharyngeal passages...
...Its sole therapeutic value rested upon its vitamin A content, hence it must qualify its claims with weasel words...
...The Commission flatly said there is no known cold remedy or cure and such products can be only aids or adjuncts to cold treatment or relief...
...The Commission held that the yeast was not an effective treatment for various conditions enumerated by the advertisers, colds, being among them...
...9, 1935, stipulated with the distributors of Father John's Medicine to the effect that the makers would no longer advertise it as effective against coughs...
...Partly because we human beings are so gullible that we even fool ourselves...
...colds, or throat troubles...
...It then said that Grove Laboratories must no longer advertise their tablets as a cold remedy, as a complete treatment for colds, or to the effect that they would kill, fix, or expel colds, clean out poisons, destroy or break up cold infection, fortify the system, act germi-cidally, or afford relief...
...TRIALS made at Ft...
...Whatever you happen to be taking when the cold naturally aborts gets credit for curing it...
...H. S. Diehl and A. B. Baker did as comprehensive work as any and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association for Sept...
...4, 1944...
...No cold vaccine of any kind, whether injected or taken by mouth, has been found effective in the treatment of colds...
...The local treatment of the nose should not, however, be common nasal drops...
...Around 1943 patulin, a metabolic product of Penicil-lium patulum, which you may call anhydro-3-hydroxy-methylene-tetrahydro-gamma-pyrone-2-carboxylic acid if you fancy that name, was reported as the latest cold cure...
...Recommended measures were dietary restriction, rest in quarters, local treatment of the nose and throat, increased fluid intake, and lozenges of ammonium chloride...
...Certain germs and certain viruses appear to be the causative agents...
...At the same time the Smith Bros...
...This is odd because outstanding specialists like Walter-C...
...The best prescription remains a dozen soft handkerchiefs and bed...
...Vitamins A, Bl, B2, C, and D were all tried out in tjjese experiments and none of them proved effective as a cold-preventive...
...We do not have a careful cold history showing all the colds we ever had, how long they lasted, what our general condition of health was when we got them, what we did for them, and so on...
...In view of all this there is little sound advice as to what you should do to avoid or cure a cold...
...But the good old standbys were calomel and castor oil, cascara and salts...
...When, a few years ago, soiheone questioned-a thousand doctors as to what they prescribed for colds it came to light that they practically all believed in laxatives...
...Since many colds naturally abort in two or three days you are almost certain to have some infallible cure which you believe wards off or ends your colds...
...This fact remains, however: When we do not yet know the cause of a disease we do not know the cure...
...That is because we do not yet know what causes colds...
...Many careful scientific investigators have even convinced themselves and found out later they were wrong...
...Intranasal medication can lead to very serious consequences, such as types of pneumonia...
...Possibly also both germs and viruses have to work together to produce a good dose of what used to be called la grippe...
...The same is true of infections of the respiratory tract in general...
...We seem always to go around carrying loads of germs of the kind sometimes supposed to produce colds...
...All the popular advertised remedies for nasal use in colds have been tested and found wanting...
...some recommended alkalines...
...hence our experimentation with cures is purely empirical...
...Things like Grove's Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets are doubly wrong, first because they are laxative and secondly because there is no evidence that taking quinine for colds is other than a quaint tradition...
...In such a situation it is easy enough for us to convince ourselves that we can cure or prevent colds...
...On June 8, 1935, the Federal Trade Commission forbade the makers to advertise this stuff as a cold remedy or to say that it was th§ standard cold and 'grippe tablet of the world...
...Possibly weak saline solutions of ephedrin are best, but even they should be used with care...
...Of course people who believe a quart of whisky cures their colds are quite special cases and probably not to be trusted...
...The Federal Trade Commission on Nov...
...Trials in London appeared to indicate that it was effectual...
...But careful analysis of the results indicated that the proportion of those showing improvement was the same in the untreated as in the treated groups...
...If you treat it, it will last about a fortnight...
...Benning, Ga., upon soldier subjects, proved that purgation with castor oil or magnesium sulfate not only did not help those who were coming down with colds, but tended to prolong the malady...
...Much research has been performed on colds and influenza...
...Several investigations have apparently established proof that taking extra vitamins will not help you ward off colds if you are already eating an adequate diet...
...Many remedies have been offered for coughs which accompany colds, as well as for coughs generally...
...While the makers of Fleischmann's Yeast have boldly advertised this material as a great panacea and have stated that using it aids colds that hang on, the Federal Trade Commission complained to the contrary Jan...
...Vaccines used industrially as cold preventives have been found ineffective under controlled test...
...Use nose drops, then, only under proper medical direction...
...stipulated to cease advertising their drops or cough syrup as effective cold remedies, or as superior to similar preparations because of their vitamin A content...
...There was no evidence that any of the vaccines tried shortened the duration of colds, reduced their complications, or warded them off...
...Unsupervised use of such medication is bad and to inflict it on youngsters can lead to disaster...
...Above all we have no means of knowing how many of the colds aborted of their own free will or how bad colds we treated would have been had we not treated them...
...Patulin also has no demonstrable effect on the course of a series of colds when compared with the natural course of the disease...
...Three years later the Commission again took action...
...Alvarez, point out that it is bad to weaken patients by purging them either before operations or at the beginning of infections, when they will require all their recuperative strength and vitality...
...Possibly exposure to adverse atmospheric conditions and low vitality may help...
Vol. 9 • November 1945 • No. 46
