Common cold, drugs

Drugs against the common cold may be designed from the structure of rhinovirus... 

Suppose a researcher develops a drug that is intended to cure the common cold. He gives the drug to a volunteer who has just contracted a viral cold. One week later the volunteer no longer has a cold, and the researcher announces to the press that his drug is a success. Comment. Suggest a better experimental design. 

Humans, plants, insects, and other animals are all susceptible to viral infection therefore, prevention and control of viral disease carry important health and economic implications. The common cold, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and some cancers are carried by viruses. Viral plant diseases are known to impact fruit trees, tobacco, and many vegetables [1]. Both insects and animals have the ability to transfer viral disease to humans and other animals. The health and economic consequences of viral disease carry enormous consequences, and significant advances have been made toward amelioration of antiviral threats. There is a critical need to identify novel drug classes and new chemical structures, which can be exploited for antiviral drug development. 

As has been the case for centuries, many people continue to rely on natural products for the treatment of a host of physical and mental problems ranging from the common cold and rashes to cancer and loss of memory. Scientific evidence for the efficacy of many of these products is weak, hut users accept cultural, historical, religious, quasi-medical, and other justifications for their use. The sale of dietary supplements in the United States alone nearly doubled in less than a decade, growing from 8.8 billion in 1994 to an estimated 15.7 billion in 2000. Clearly, whatever disadvantages they may have in terms of efficacy and safety, natural products will continue to constitute a major portion of the drug market in the United States and other countries around the world. 

Therapeutic measures. First attempts of a causal treatment consist of zanamavir, an inhibitor of viral neuraminidase, an enzyme necessary for virus adsorption and infection of cells. However, since symptoms of common cold abate spontaneously, there is no compelling need to use drugs. Conventional remedies are intended for symptomatic relief. 

A wide variety of organotin compounds developed by Carraher, Sabir, Roner, and others based on known antiviral drugs such as acyclovir and known antibacterial agents such as ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, cephalexin (structure 11.21), and ampicillin inhibit a wide variety of viruses including ones responsible for many of the common colds, chicken pox, small pox, shingles, and herpes simplex. 

Sitagliptin is a selective dipeptidylpeptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitor which increases the active form of GLP-1 (glucagon-like-peptide-1) and GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide). This enzyme-inhibiting drug is to be used either alone or in combination with metformin or a thiazolidinedione for control of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Adverse effects were as common with sitagliptin (whether used alone or with metformin or pioglitazone) as they were with placebo, except for nausea and common cold-like symptoms. 

If precipitating factors can be identified these should obviously be eliminated as far as possible before drug treatment is used. Examples are tension, stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, smoking, large intake of coffee and tea, irregular meals, bad work posture and problems with eyesight. Hormonal ilucmations and common colds also often cause headache. 

F. Scaglione et al., Efficacy and safety of the standardized ginseng extract G115 for potentiating vaccination against common cold and/or influenza syndrome, Drugs Exp. Clin. Res., 22,65,1996. 

A number of virus diseases and virus related topics are described in this encyclopedia. Check alphabetical index for antiviral drugs, cancer research, cluckenpox, common cold coxsackie virus, dengue (breakbone fever), hepatitis, infectious mononucleosis, influenza, measles, mumps, Norwalk virus, poliomyelitis, rabies. Rift Valley fever, vaccinia, virus diseases (plants), and yellow fever. 

The curative powers of chicken soup have been known since it was prescribed as a remedy for the common cold in Ancient Egypt. In America today, chicken noodle soup is still a popular comfort food for treating the symptoms of the common cold and the flu. Given its healing powers, we should all be consoled by the fact that of the 240 food products tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), chicken noodle soup was one of only five food products that were ml contaminated with synthetic chemicals. Other popular comfort foods fared much worse. 

A 73-year-old man with diabetic gangrene who had used insulin and acarbose 300 mg/day for 15 months developed ileus with abdominal pain and vomiting after he took PL granules (containing salicylamide, paracetamol, anhydrous caffeine, and promethazine methylene disalicylate) for a common cold (51). The ileus subsided after acarbose and the other drugs were withdrawn. 

The drugs described in this chapter are used to treat a variety of disorders, ranging from severe cardiovascular and respiratory problems to symptoms of the common cold. Because these drugs are widely used in cardiovascular disease and other disorders, many patients seen in physical therapy and occupational... 

The drugs presented below are used to treat symptomatic coughing and irritation resulting from problems such as the common cold, seasonal allergies, and upper... 

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