Over the last decade, common cold has become centre of focus due to its severe effects to the human beings. This has especially been critical to the infants and the young children. Although the disease is self limiting, most of the patients with the condition often seek medical help. The concern have especially been taken very serious due to the vast number of productive hours lost and the government spending on medication. According to Vermont (2005, p.
811) common cold is a mild self-limited viral infection that affects the upper respiratory tract in human beings. The disease is caused by rhinoviruses but with very variant immunotypes that make the common cold to be different in symptoms occurrence and treatment. Later studies indicate that about 50% of the common colds are due to rhino viruses while other viruses account for the rest. It has also been hard to establish whether enchinaceae has any antiviral spectrum which is broad enough to affect such a high number of viruses. 2. Overview
This paper explores common cold with reference to the widespread claims of the ability of echinaceae to treat the disease. It explores the prevalence of the disease in UK and evaluates the pathophysiology of the condition while relating it to echinaceae medication. Besides, it examines the management principles that are used to control the disease prevalence in the society. Finally, the essay derives suitable recommendations that are necessary for ensuring strong and effective management and prevention to give better protection to the people in the society.
3. History of echinacea and the common cold The name common cold came to use in mid 15th century due to similarity of the symptoms to those of the cold weather. Though the virus was not immediately discovered, early researchers like Benjamin Franklin discovered the disease was easily passed form one person to another through contact and through the air molecules. Franklin’s theory of common cold was confirmed about 150 years later.
Echinacea was discovered by the American Indians of south Western America due to the nature of their existence which included extensive cold conditions that was recurrent in the region. Use of the plants to treat the condition increased sharply during the cold war and the World War I period. However, it declined sharply with the advent of antibiotics in the in the 20th century. Since then, use of the plant has been highly controversial due to lack of effective scientific back up to support its main operations in the body.