Editorialist Dr. Ananda S. Prasad of Wayne State expresses
concern that the report by the Cleveland Clinic team will prompt
the public to self-administer zinc in inappropriate doses. Dr.
Prasad says "...the ingestion of gram quantities of zinc by many
millions of persons as therapy for the common cold would
represent a kind of uncontrolled nutritional experiment that is
cause for concern. At the very least, surveillance for potential
toxicity will be needed for a good many years if zinc therapy
becomes widely adopted for one of mankind's most common and
seemingly most intractable maladies."
==================
Reutersin uutisista webbisivulta
reutershealth.com
saksittua:
Common Cold: Steps To A Cure
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WESTPORT, Jul 15 (Reuters) - Two studies in today's Annals of
Internal Medicine indicate that researchers may be a few steps
closer to that elusive cure for the common cold. In one study,
zinc gluconate lozenges significantly reduced the duration of
cold symptoms, although treatment was associated with adverse
effects. In the second study, intranasal ipratropium rapidly
reduced nasal mucus production, rhinorrhea and sneezing.
One hundred employees at the Cleveland Clinic with cold symptoms
received either a placebo or zinc gluconate lozenges from Dr.
Sherif B. Mossad and his staff, with instructions to take the
lozenges every two hours while awake. The lozenges contained 13.3
mg of zinc. The time to complete symptom relief was 4.4 days for
patients on active treatment and 7.6 days for patients on
placebo. However, 90% of patients on zinc reported adverse
effects, with nausea (in 20%) and bad taste reactions (in 80%)
the most commonly reported side effects.
Elsewhere, Dr. Frederick G. Hayden, of the University of Virginia
in Charlottesville, randomized 400 patients with cold symptoms
who attended one of three university student health service
clinics to intranasal ipratropium bromide, saline spray or no
treatment. Students given ipratropium reported relief of symptoms
earlier than patients randomized to either a saline spray or no
treatment. Ipratropium recipients had 26% less nasal discharge
than saline recipients and 34% less nasal discharge than
untreated patients. Ipratropium treatment was generally well
tolerated, but Dr. Hayden found that patients using ipratropium
reported episodes of blood-tinged mucus more frequently than
controls.
Editorialist Dr. Ananda S. Prasad of Wayne State expresses
concern that the report by the Cleveland Clinic team will prompt
the public to self-administer zinc in inappropriate doses. Dr.
Prasad says "...the ingestion of gram quantities of zinc by many
millions of persons as therapy for the common cold would
represent a kind of uncontrolled nutritional experiment that is
cause for concern. At the very least, surveillance for potential
toxicity will be needed for a good many years if zinc therapy
becomes widely adopted for one of mankind's most common and
seemingly most intractable maladies."
Ann Intern Med 1996;125:81-88,89-97,142-144.
-Westport Newsroom 203 221 7648
Copyright © 1996 Reuters Limited. |
