ASCORBIC ACID AND THE COMMON COLD SIR,—Most of the earlier reports 1,2 claiming that supplementary ascorbic acid has little or no effect on the incidence and severity of the common cold have been based on dosages of the order of 200 mg. per day. Pauling 3 lately publicised other work which indicated that higher intakes of ascorbic acid might be beneficial in cold prevention. We wish to report a...

Background: Many people experience the common cold, but there is currently no special treatment. For this reason, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies are used to improve the symptoms of the common cold. Blood-letting therapy (BL) is a CAM therapy that has been used for over 2000 years to treat various diseases. However, few studies have provided evidence for the efficacy and ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To investigate whether erythromycin therapy lowers the frequency of the common cold and subsequent exacerbation in patients with COPD. DESIGN Prospective, randomized, controlled, but not blinded, trial. PATIENTS One hundred nine patients with COPD were enrolled into the study. Patients were randomly assigned to erythromycin therapy or to no active treatment in September 199...

Introduction The controversy over vitamin C and orthomolecular medicine began with the publication of Linus Pauling's book, Vitamin C and the Common Cold. Since that time, a proportion ofthe population have been experimenting with high dose vitamin C, reflecting a belief in its efficacy as a treatment or preventative for this minor illness. However, some elements of conventional medicine contin...

The idea that an increased intake of vitamin C may be helpful in fighting the common cold has been around since at least the 1930s, but it was not until 1970 that the publication of Linus Pauling's best seller, Vita min C and the Common Cold, turned the issue into a public controversy. 1 As a result of the interest generated by this controversy, a number of scientifically sound experimental stu...

The effect of vitamin C on the common cold has been the subject of several studies. These studies do not support a considerable decrease in the incidence of the common cold with supplemental vitamin C. However, vitamin C has consistently decreased the duration of cold episodes and the severity of symptoms. The benefits that have been observed in different studies show a large variation and, the...

There is considerable evidence that social relationships can influence health, but only limited evidence on the health effects of the personality characteristics that are thought to mold people's social lives. We asked whether sociability predicts resistance to infectious disease and whether this relationship is attributable to the quality and quantity of social interactions and relationships. ...

was completed daily by the camp physician for each of the 279 participants who were asked about the presence or absence of 11 specific and six nonspe-cific cold symptoms. Certain of these, such as pharyngitis, bronchitis, and herpes labial is, together with the number of days sick, could be confirmed by the physicians. To the Editor.-I heartily endorse the views of your contributors Dykes and M...

1. Discuss the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and complications of the common cold in children. 2. Describe the viral causes and pathogenesis of the common cold. 3. Describe transmission of the common cold. 4. Explain the systemic effects of oral decongestants and antihistamines in infants and young children. 5. Recognize that over-the-counter cough and cold preparations have not been adequa...

Background and objective: Pityriasis rosea (PR) is a transient skin disease with a distinct appearance that is prevalent throughout the world and is more frequently seen in winter. Despite the reported epidemiological evidence, which account for an infective agent, this has not been proved, yet. This study was designed to determine the epidemiological features of PR in terms of age, gender, sea...