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Home Remedies For Common Cold Cure

The common cold - an acute, usually afebrile viral infection - causes inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. It accounts for more time lost from school or work than any other cause and is the most common infectious disease. Although it's benign and self-limiting, it can lead to secondary bacterial infections.

Common cold is most common during the cold winter months and affects children and adults of all ages. Most people will catch a cold two to four times a year.

Causes

The common cold is more prevalent in children than in adults; in adolescent boys than in girls; and in women than in men. In temperate zones, it occurs more often in the colder months; in the tropics, during the rainy season.

About 90% of colds stem from a viral infection of the upper respiratory passages and consequent mucous membrane inflammation; occasionally, colds result from Mycoplasma.

Over a hundred viruses can cause the common cold. Major offenders include rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, myxoviruses, adenoviruses, coxsackieviruses, and echoviruses.

Transmission occurs through airborne respiratory droplets, contact with contaminated objects, and hand-to-hand transmission. Children acquire new strains from their schoolmates and pass them on to family members. Fatigue or drafts don't increase susceptibility.

People are most contagious for the first 2 to 3 days of a cold, and usually not contagious at all by day 7 to 10.

Signs and symptoms

The most frequent symptoms of a cold are:

• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• nasal congestion
• Possible low-grade fever
• Dry cough
• Watery eyes
• Headache
• General body aches

The discharge from your nose may become thicker and yellow or green in color as a common cold runs its course. What makes a cold different from other viral infections is that you generally won't have a high fever. You're also unlikely to experience significant fatigue from a common cold.

Diagnosis

No explicit diagnostic test exists to isolate the specific organisms responsible for the common cold. Consequently, the diagnosis rests on a cold's typically mild, localized, and afebrile upper respiratory symptoms. Despite infection, white blood cell count and differential are within normal limits.

A diagnosis must rule out allergic rhinitis, measles, rubella, and other disorders that produce similar early symptoms. A temperature higher than 100° F (37.8 C), severe malaise, anorexia, tachycardia, exudate on the tonsils or throat, petechiae, and tender lymph glands may point to more serious disorders and require additional diagnostic tests.

Treatment

The primary treatment-aspirin or acetaminophen, fluids, and rest - is purely symptomatic because the common cold has no cure. Aspirin eases myalgia and headache; fluids help loosen accumulated respiratory secretions and maintain hydration; and rest combats fatigue and weakness. In a child with a fever, acetaminophen is the drug of choice.

Decongestants can relieve congestion. Throat lozenges relieve soreness. Steam encourages expectoration. In infants, saline nose drops and mucus aspiration with a bulb syringe may be beneficial.

Nasal douching, sinus drainage, and antibiotics aren't necessary except in complications or chronic illness. Pure antitussives relieve severe coughs but are contraindicated with productive coughs, when cough suppression is harmful. The role of vitamin C and zinc remain controversial. Currently, no known measure can prevent the common cold. Vitamin therapy, interferon administration, and ultraviolet irradiation are under investigation.

Home Remedies (Cure) for Common Cold

• Eat garlic raw, put it in your mouth and chew.
• Drink a teaspoonful of ginger juice mixed with equal quantity of honey.
• Another sure-fire remedy for a sore throat is to gargle with a strong solution of table salt and warm water. Gargle several times a day. The salt helps to relieve that uncomfortable burning in your throat. Natural zinc lozenges are another one of nature's sore throat-fighters, and can be purchased at your local health food store.
• Take hot water in a bowl and put some Thyme leaves. Place your nose over the vapors and inhale, covering yourself with a towel.
• Take a bath with a few drops of cinnamon in the bath water can relieve congestion.

Prevention

Because so many different viruses can cause a common cold, no effective vaccine has been developed. But you can take some common-sense precautions to slow the spread of cold viruses:

• Wash hands: Children and adults should wash hands at key moments -- after nose-wiping, after diapering or toileting, before eating, and before food preparation.
• Use tissues: Always sneeze and cough into tissues. Discard used tissues right away.
• Disinfect: Clean commonly touched surfaces (sink handles, sleeping mats) with an EPA-approved disinfectant.
• Choose your child-care center wisely: Look for a child-care setting with sound hygiene practices and clear policies about keeping sick children at home.
• A good diet, adequate sleep and exercise helps keep the immune system strong.
• Smokers should stop smoking.
• Soothe your throat: Gargling with warm salt water several times a day or drinking warm lemon water with honey may help soothe a sore throat and relieve a cough.