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Biotech / Medical : GUMM - Eliminate the Common Cold -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pz who wrote (3629)	1/28/2001 2:04:53 AM
From: Hank	Respond to of 5582

"But...what do I know." Not much. Hank- Still cold free WITHOUT Ziscam!

To: pz who wrote (3629)	1/28/2001 10:55:55 AM
From: DanZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5582

Paul, Based on the theoretical mechanism of action as I understand it, Zicam doesn't kill cold viruses. A description of how Zicam works follows, although this won't be proven until verified through scientific studies: the zinc ions in Zicam bind to the nasal ICAM receptors, which blocks rhinoviruses from attaching and gaining entry into cells. This is a different from Tremacamra which was genetically engineered to bind to the virus itself to prevent the virus from attaching to the ICAM receptor. Howard is much more qualified than I am to post about the theory, so maybe he will correct me if I'm wrong. You say that you have been using Zicam for several months and normally get 3 or 4 colds per year. You have also posted in the past that people you work with had colds, and you were happy that you didn't get sick. Based on simple averages, it looks like Zicam may have prevented you from getting two or three colds. That sounds pretty good for an OTC product that costs about $10 and doesn't work against every virus that causes the common cold. You then conclude that just because you got one cold that you'd be surprised if the preventative study is going very well. Just an opinion, and not intending to bash you, but this seems like an exaggeration. If the study has similar results to your overall experience, I would conclude it is going very well. BTW, the cold was going around my office about two weeks ago. One guy got it and gave it to another guy. A couple days later, I started getting a scratchy throat and started using Zicam right away. The next day the runny nose started and within three days all symptoms were gone. The severity of my symptoms for those three days were milder than they used to be before I used Zicam. Obviously there's no way to know if Zicam did anything because the cold might have gone away on its own in three days and the symptoms might not have been severe without Zicam. I can only base my belief that Zicam did something on the fact that cold symptoms used to last close to two weeks and I would feel so bad that I just wanted to lay in bed. Zicam has value to me because it generally reduces the severity and duration of symptoms from what I am used to. Incidentally, I have taken prescription products for coughs associated with the common cold that had absolutely no effect on my cough. But you know what? The drug company that makes that stuff probably sells a lot of it even though it may not be all that effective. People take OTC remedies that make them feel lousy and aren't that effective. Best, Dan