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Contents 1 Pathogenesis 2 Zinc treatment 3 Vandalism of this page 3.1 wives' tale truth

[edit] Pathogenesis

I do not think the Pathogenesis section in its current form is supported by any credible sources. There is very little evidence in the literature that I have perused which states the common cold "common cold occurs only when the immune system is weakened". In fact, all of the literature I have read indicates that a cold occurs primarily by exposure to a cold virus.

I would like to re-write this section so that it includes more accurate statements and contains more verifiable sources.

Ke6jjj 19:23, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm guessing that the intention of that statement is to show that not every exposure to a virus results in infection or disease. But it is quite badly worded and you should go ahead with your improvements, which sound like a very good idea. Opabinia regalis 19:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Zinc treatment

I removed the following text, which was under the "Vaccine" subhead:

But there is a treatment One treatment that has been found to shorten the duration of a cold is zinc. Zinc nasal sprays and lozenges have been proven to shorten the length of a cold from 10- 14 days to 4- 7 days. These sprays act in a very simple manner, they inhibit rhinovirus infection.
The rhinovirus must attach to a certain receptor protein in order for it to cause infection. The binding site on the virus is called the binding pocket. Because of the protein building blocks, zinc is able to bind in the binding pocket of the virus. Therefore, zinc does not leave room for the virus to bind with the receptor protein. And the virus becomes a harmless bundle of protein and RNA.
There are drawbacks to this treatment. For instance, zinc is only effective in preventing rhinoviral infection and therefore will not shorten the length of those colds caused by other viruses (half of all colds). Also, an oral dose of zinc is ineffective. This is because the zinc must come into contact with rhinoviruses to eliminate them, and that will not happen if the zinc is in the bloodstream and the rhinovirus is in the nasal passages.

Reasons:
- No citation.
- Potentially harmful. See the January 2007 issue of Consumer reports, which notes: "studies with animals and case reports suggest that nasal zinc may cause loss of smell, possibly permanent. Last year we unearthed more than 200 complaints to the Food and Drug Administration about an impaired sense of smell, taste, or both after using zinc nasal products."
- Internally contradictory. The first paragraph says that lozenges will shorten the duration of a cold. The last paragraph says that oral zinc is ineffective. 71.100.178.142 14:03, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism of this page

Note someone is vandalizing this page. I have reverted it back.

[edit] wives' tale truth

so the wives' tale has some sort of merit? "if you get cold... you'll catch your death," aka run around in the winter, and your nasopharynx gets cold this is a better temperature for the rhino virus to replicate at because it does not replicate well above 37 degrees Celsius?? 207.151.230.114 00:53, 23 January 2007 (UTC)