The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-01-20
Your Health
No Sure Cure
Yet Found For
Common Cold

some vague reason the term lrrl-
tates me. realize it's common, but
So is breathing. You don't say
"He passed by my house doing
DR.. Clendening will answer
questions of general interest
only, and then only through
his column.
common breathing and common
walking and common swinging of
his arms as he went. The cold
weather made some common tears
come to his common eyes, so he
wiped them away with his common
handkerchief"
Why not just say colds? Or
coryza.
Cold Remedies
Anyway, is there anything to
be done about a cold? | have be-
fore me the "1944 Year Book in
Medicine" which contains digests
of all the important articles on
medicine from all over the world
and l will tell you what it says
about cold remedies. Remember
this is what the book says. 1t is
not necessarily my opinion, and /
do not guarantee the statements.
As Rochester says to Jack Benny,
That's what the man said. The
man, said that"
In the first place, vaccines for
prevention Of colds. Three sepa-
rate reports are made in different
towns by different medical observ-
ers. The studies were made in in
dustrial plants and the attempt
was to reduce absentceism In
short, the results meant dollars
and cents.
Cold Vaccines
The summary states: mo
clearly evident protection against
the cold and related acute respirs-
tory infections could be demon
strated. Comparing with control
groups who received no vaccine, no
evidence of effective protection
against either frequency or sever
ity or complications Of the COM
mon cold could be demonstrated.
lndiscriminate use of cold vac
cines now available is not the an
swer to the problem of industrial
absenteeism due to acute respira-
tory infections"
Cod Liver Oil
Vitamins: DR.. c. Ward Cramp-
ton gave a cod liver oil concentrate
Of 100000 units of Vitamin A and
$4,000 units Of Vitamin D as an
initial dose and smaller doses
thereafter and found in 81 per
cent of his patients that the cold
was cured, abated or favorably
modified" Although no claims
are made for the remedy in cold
prevention, many persons have in
a manner avoided colds by con-
sistently stopping them In their
prodromal stage.
But note OF pessimism breaks
in with the report of other work.
ers that the use of A and D vita
Minis have not proved Of value in
preventing or curing colds. Since
colds are self limiting, the results
must be very striking before one
can ascribe any influence to an
agent directed towards cure.
Sulfa Drugs
Sulfa drugs: Sulfadiazine was
the preparation used by Drs.
Russell Cecil, Norman Plummer
and Wilson G. Smillie. They point
out that it is the complications of
the common cold that make the
trouble. The uncomplicated cold,
now generally accepted as due to a
filterable virus, runs a mild course,
and clears up completely in four
to seven days.
1t is the secondary bacterial i'm
plantation which make the trou-
Bile. Against these the sulfa drugs
might operate. In &C persons, 40
were treated by sulfadiazine, "a
were untreated and observed as
controls. There was a uniform de-
crease in the secondary bacterial
infections in the nose with the use
Of sulfadiazine. The doctors are
opposed, however, TO the routine
use Of sulfa drugs in the common
cold, and use sulfa on only those
cases in which it appears compli-
cations may be imminent.
Patulin: Patulin is a form Of
penicillin. In a study by w. A.
Hopkins of 95 patients with the
common cold and So others used
as controls when solutions Of patu-
lin were sprayed into the nose So
per cent of the treated patients
recovered completely within AZ
hours, while only per cent Of the
controls recovered that quickly.
No III effects we're observed.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
!. Y.:-Is it unhealthful TO keep
growing plants in a bedroom? |
have been told they absorb the
oxygen at night.
Answer:-That is just what
they don't do. They give off oxy-
gen. Goldfish can't live in a bowl
without moss, and human beings
"a q