Chemo cold virus

But there are pros and cons to commonly used cold remedies, such as over-the-counter pain relievers, decongestants, nasal sprays and cough syrups. Don't give OTC cold medications to children. For a fever, sore throat and headache, adults often turn to OTC acetaminophen Tylenol, others or other mild pain relievers such as ibuprofen Advil, Motrin IB, others.

For treatment of fever or pain in children, consider giving your child infants' or children's over-the-counter fever and pain medications such as acetaminophen Tylenol, others or ibuprofen Advil, Motrin, others.

These are safer alternatives to aspirin. For children younger than 3 months old, don't give acetaminophen until your baby has been seen by a doctor. Don't give ibuprofen to a child younger than 6 months old or to children who are vomiting constantly or are dehydrated. Use these medications for the shortest time possible and follow label directions to avoid side effects. Call your doctor if you have questions about the right dose.

Aspirin is not recommended for children or teenagers. Though aspirin is approved for use in children older than age 3, children and teenagers recovering from chickenpox or flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin.

This is because aspirin has been linked to Reye's syndrome, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, in such children. Adults can use decongestant drops or sprays for up to five days. Prolonged use can cause rebound symptoms. Children younger than 6 years old shouldn't use decongestant drops or sprays. Talk to your doctor before using nasal decongestants in children older than 6 years.

Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are intended to treat the symptoms of coughs and colds, not the underlying disease. Research suggests that these medicines haven't been proved to work any better to treat colds than do inactive medicine placebo.

If you use over-the counter cough and cold medicines, follow the label directions. Don't take two medicines with the same active ingredient, such as an antihistamine, decongestant or pain reliever. Too much of a single ingredient could lead to an accidental overdose. Don't use over-the-counter medicines, except for fever reducers and pain relievers, to treat coughs and colds in children younger than 6 years old. Cough and cold medications have potentially serious side effects, including fatal overdoses in children younger than 2 years old.

Also consider avoiding use of these medicines for children younger than 12 years old. And it isn't typically recommended that you give cough or cold medicines to an older child. You can also try ice chips, lozenges or hard candy. Use caution when giving lozenges or hard candy to children because they can choke on them.

Don't give lozenges or hard candy to children younger than 6 years. Try saline nasal drops or sprays. Saline nasal drops or sprays can keep nasal passages moist and loosen mucus. You can buy these products over-the-counter, and they can help relieve symptoms, even in children.

In infants and younger children, apply saline nasal drops, wait for a short period and then use a suction bulb to draw mucus out of each nostril. For older children, use a saline nasal spray or saline nasal irrigation. In spite of ongoing studies, the scientific jury is still out on common alternative cold remedies such as vitamin C, echinacea and zinc.

Because alternative cold remedies have not been studied in children, they are generally not recommended for use in children. Here's an update on some popular choices:. It appears that for the most part taking vitamin C won't help the average person prevent colds. However, some studies have found that taking vitamin C before cold symptoms start may shorten the length of time you have symptoms.

Study results on whether echinacea prevents or shortens colds are mixed. A Cochrane systematic review examined the effectiveness of traditional physical public health interventions in preventing upper respiratory tract infections in 67 studies of various types randomized controlled trials [RCTs], cluster RCTs, retrospective and prospective cohort studies, case—control studies and before—after studies. As a result, pooling of data was limited, and many of the studies had an unclear or high risk of bias.

Nevertheless, the majority of results suggested that physical preventive measures such as handwashing reduced the risk of getting or spreading upper respiratory tract infections. Zinc appears to be effective in reducing the number of colds per year, at least in children.

A Cochrane review 31 of the prophylactic efficacy of orally administered zinc considered two RCTs that we also examined individually. The mean number of colds was significantly lower in the zinc group than in the placebo group both in the pooled analysis Table 1 and in the individual studies mean 1. School absences were significantly lower in the zinc groups of each study, by an average of 0.

Although the evidence for cold prevention with zinc comes from studies involving only children, there is no biological reason why zinc would work only in children and not adults. Probiotics may be helpful in preventing upper respiratory tract infections, but the interventions and evidence are inconsistent.

Probiotic prophylaxis reduced the number of participants who had one or more upper respiratory tract infections odds ratio [OR] 0. However, use of probiotics reduced antibiotic use risk ratio 0.

In all but two studies, the probiotics varied in types of organisms, combinations of organisms, formulations e. These inconsistencies limit the clinical application of the study findings. We examined the two highest-quality studies included in the systematic review.

In the first, 35 children aged three to six years attending a community preschool or daycare were randomly assigned to receive either a drink containing the probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei DN 10 8 colony-forming units or a matching placebo for 90 days.

Use of the probiotic resulted in a reduction of 0. In the second RCT, 36 children more than 12 months of age who were admitted to hospital were randomly assigned to drink mL of a fermented milk product containing either Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG 10 9 colony-forming units or no probiotic for the duration of their hospital stay.

The incidence of upper respiratory tract infections was reduced in the probiotic group relative risk 0. Frequent gargling with water may help reduce episodes of upper respiratory tract infection, but evidence is limited to a single study. The well-designed RCT involved adults randomly assigned to gargling with water, gargling with a diluted povidone—iodine solution or usual care control.

The degree of gargling required was considerable 20 mL for 15 seconds repeated three times, performed three times daily. Confirmation from a second RCT would be helpful before recommending gargling. The role of ginseng in preventing colds is questionable. Some of the trials showed a statistically significant reduction in laboratory-confirmed colds and influenza, whereas others found small changes in clinical, but not laboratory-confirmed, upper respiratory tract infections only.

A variety of other interventions have been studied for the prevention of the common cold. Studies of exercise, 41 garlic 42 , 43 and homeopathy 44 — 46 showed unclear evidence of benefit, whereas those of vitamin D 48 , 49 and echinacea 50 showed no evidence of benefit.

Vitamin C 47 may provide some benefit in people under physical stress e. Summarized details of these interventions can be found in Table 1.

See also Appendix 1 available at www. The traditional pharmacologic treatments of the common cold are summarized in Table 2. Antihistamines as monotherapy have no meaningful effect in the treatment of the common cold. An earlier meta-analysis had similar results. Antihistamines combined with decongestants, analgesics or both appear to have a small to moderate effect on the common cold in older children and adults.

A large systematic review and meta-analysis 53 found that the antihistamine—decongestant combination reduced global symptoms in six pooled studies OR 0. The estimated number needed to treat was five. Although overall adverse events were not increased, there were significant increases in dry mouth OR 3.

Fewer, and smaller, RCTs examined other combinations, and pooling was limited. For the antihistamine—analgesic combination, two of three studies reported on global symptoms and found significant improvement. For the antihistamine—decongestant—analgesic combination compared with placebo, four trials reported improvement in global symptoms and two found statistically significant improvement. Decongestants result in small improvements of uncertain clinical significance in nasal symptoms, according to three meta-analyses 54 — 56 and a systematic review.

Inhaled ipratropium bromide appears to improve cold symptoms, particularly rhinorrhea, with a moderate increase in adverse events such as epistaxis and dryness of the nose and mouth. A systematic review and meta-analysis of intranasal ipratropium bromide spray did not pool data because of variability in scales, measurements and other parameters. However, four other RCTs found no improvement in nasal congestion compared with placebo.

Over-the-counter cough suppressants are of no benefit for children, and Health Canada recommends against their use in children under the age of six years. A systematic review 59 evaluated a variety of outcomes such as cough and global improvement scores in children age two to seven years , but statistically significant improvements were infrequent and inconsistent and of doubtful clinical significance. Poor trial quality, varying reported outcomes and inconsistent results limit interpretation.

Vapour rub containing camphor, menthol and eucalyptus oil is applied to the neck and chest. In the one RCT 60 we found that assessed its efficacy, harms appeared to outweigh benefits. No effect was found on rhinorrhea. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and acetaminophen appear to be effective in relieving pain and fever in people with upper respiratory tract infection but not in relieving other symptoms.

Summarized details of these interventions can be found in Table 2. See also Appendix 1 for a more detailed discussion of each intervention. Alternative and nonpharmacologic treatments of the common cold are summarized in Table 3. Consistent findings of three RCTs involving children suggest that a single night-time dose of honey can have a small effect on cough and sleep in children over 12 months old.

Honey should not be given to children younger than 12 months. Inconsistent evidence from a meta-analysis suggests that orally administered zinc reduces the duration and severity of the common cold in adults. The evidence to support intranasal use of zinc is weak, and important risks exist. Adverse events such as nasal stinging and burning were more common with zinc used intranasally than with placebo.

In addition, anosmia was described in a case series, 80 and a US manufacturer settled legal claims for anosmia. Although seven trials with more than patients examined vitamin C for the treatment of the common cold, no clear benefit was shown.

Studies of nasal irrigation, 75 humidified air, 76 Chinese herbal medicines 77 and echinacea 50 all showed inconsistent results. A single clinical trial of ginseng did not report efficacy outcomes. Summarized details of these interventions can be found in Table 3. Much more evidence now exists in this area, but many uncertainties remain regarding interventions to prevent and treat the common cold.

We focused on RCTs and systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs for therapy, but few of the studies had a low risk of bias. However, many of the results were inconsistent and had small effects e. Further work to help clinicians clearly distinguish the common cold from other upper respiratory tract infections would also be useful. Evidence for interventions aimed at preventing and treating the common cold is frequently of poor quality, and results are inconsistent.

The best evidence for the prevention of the common cold supports physical interventions e. The best evidence for traditional treatments supports the use of acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain and fever and possibly antihistamine—decongestant combinations and intranasal ipratropium. Ibuprofen appears to be superior to acetaminophen for the treatment of fever in children.

The best evidence for nontraditional treatments of the common cold supports the use of oral zinc supplements in adults and honey at bedtime for cough in children over one year. No competing interests declared by Michael Allan. This article has been peer reviewed.

Contributors: Michael Allan and Bruce Arroll independently searched and reviewed the evidence. Michael Allan prepared the first evidence summary and draft of the article. Bruce Arroll confirmed the evidence summary and edited the draft critically for content. Both authors approved the final version submitted for publication. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Correspondence to: G. Michael Allan, ac. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Box 1: Summary of literature review. How can the common cold be distinguished from other conditions? What interventions are effective for preventing the common cold? Open in a separate window.

Physical interventions A Cochrane systematic review examined the effectiveness of traditional physical public health interventions in preventing upper respiratory tract infections in 67 studies of various types randomized controlled trials [RCTs], cluster RCTs, retrospective and prospective cohort studies, case—control studies and before—after studies. Zinc Zinc appears to be effective in reducing the number of colds per year, at least in children.

Probiotics Probiotics may be helpful in preventing upper respiratory tract infections, but the interventions and evidence are inconsistent. Gargling Frequent gargling with water may help reduce episodes of upper respiratory tract infection, but evidence is limited to a single study. Ginseng The role of ginseng in preventing colds is questionable. Other interventions A variety of other interventions have been studied for the prevention of the common cold.

What medications are effective for treating the common cold? Antihistamines, monotherapy Antihistamines as monotherapy have no meaningful effect in the treatment of the common cold. Antihistamines, combination therapy Antihistamines combined with decongestants, analgesics or both appear to have a small to moderate effect on the common cold in older children and adults.

Decongestants Decongestants result in small improvements of uncertain clinical significance in nasal symptoms, according to three meta-analyses 54 — 56 and a systematic review. Intranasal ipratropium Inhaled ipratropium bromide appears to improve cold symptoms, particularly rhinorrhea, with a moderate increase in adverse events such as epistaxis and dryness of the nose and mouth. Over-the-counter cough suppressants Over-the-counter cough suppressants are of no benefit for children, and Health Canada recommends against their use in children under the age of six years.

Vapour rub Vapour rub containing camphor, menthol and eucalyptus oil is applied to the neck and chest. Other interventions Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and acetaminophen appear to be effective in relieving pain and fever in people with upper respiratory tract infection but not in relieving other symptoms. What alternative and nonpharmacologic treatments of the common cold are effective?

Honey Consistent findings of three RCTs involving children suggest that a single night-time dose of honey can have a small effect on cough and sleep in children over 12 months old. Zinc, oral or intranasal Inconsistent evidence from a meta-analysis suggests that orally administered zinc reduces the duration and severity of the common cold in adults. Other interventions Although seven trials with more than patients examined vitamin C for the treatment of the common cold, no clear benefit was shown.

Key points Evidence for interventions aimed at preventing and treating the common cold is frequently of poor quality, and results are inconsistent.

Supplementary Material Online Appendix: Click here to view. References 1. The common cold. Incubation periods of acute respiratory viral infections: a systematic review. Lober B. Frequency and natural history of rhinovirus infections in adults during autumn. Join our online community to connect, share, and find peer support. Was this article helpful? Can we help guide you? How does this work? Learn more. Are these recommendations helpful?