Posted on 09/20/2005 6:43:12 PM PDT by aculeus
A nasal spray that is claimed to be the first clinically proven treatment to stop a common cold from fully developing goes on sale next month.
Procter & Gamble said its Vicks First Defence can both reduce the chance of developing a full-blown cold and the severity of symptoms.
After initial infection by a cold virus, sufferers become aware of a cold developing, marked by a scratchy throat, sneezing and feeling unwell.
Research shows this incubation period, which can last two days before full-blown symptoms develop, offers an opportunity to inhibit the virus before it takes hold.
The spray contains no drugs. Its viscous gel coats the virus so it cannot dock with the body's cells, the low pH inhibits the virus and it irrigates the nasal passages and washes away the viruses.
Prof Ron Eccles, the director of the Common Cold Centre, Cardiff University, tested the spray on 70 volunteers challenged with a rhinovirus and found 57 per cent of the spray group developed a cold, compared with 79 per cent of the placebo group. On day three, it achieved a significant cut in symptoms.
In studies on 400 healthy subjects who were infected naturally, he found that the spray cut the duration of their colds by a day, according to results presented to a Procter & Gamble-sponsored symposium.
"A new category of treatment that attacks respiratory viruses where they first take hold, accompanied by sound clinical data, is significant and should greatly improve the discomfort and inconvenience caused to millions of cold sufferers every year," said Prof Eccles.
Virologists from Leeds University said the findings were based on "sound scientific evidence… only time will tell whether this product will have an impact on the burden of common cold infections in the population at large".
I've been using the Zicam swabs and have found good results with them. I wonder how this compares.
I stuck Zicam gel up my nose after extremely close contact with a cold-bearing personal contact... I didn't get sick!
I use the Zicam tablets that disolve in the mouth. I heard that you can potentially lose your sense of smell with the Zicam in the nose approach.
"I stuck Zicam gel up my nose after extremely close contact with a cold-bearing personal contact... I didn't get sick!"
Did you leave the bottle stuck in your nose? Does that provide extra protection?
Good idea. That would likely keep her away.
Don't know. . .but wonder how a q-tip with some vaseline works; along with some saline spray . . .if one has to 'make do'. . .
It wouldn't be the same because the swab and saline would not travel through then lymph system. Zicam spreads the medicine through the lymph system.
Use both.
This is great but I hate putting anything in my nose. What is Zicam?
|
bttt
I've always had bad allergies - as a child I used to have to get three allergy shots in one arm and two in the other on a weekly basis. I used to get colds all the time. Many of my problems with allergies have followed me into adulthood.
A few years ago, a doctor prescribed a nose spray - Nasonex or one of those - and since then I can make it through spring and fall without the usual colds that have plagued me all my life. I feel myself starting to get sick, start taking the nose sprays twice a day, and it stays away.
Amazing stuff.
And that's a good thing ...
The Zi is usually zinc in there somewhere. I take Coldeeze which really works if you take it at the onset of a cold...just a throat lozenge, works great!
DWR
I'm no statistician, but seems to me that in the first study, there were 70 volunteers. 35 in the placebo group, 35 in the group that got the spray. So 20 people in the spray group caught the cold, about 28 people in the non spray group. In a study that small, I don't know if you can draw overall conclusions, especially since the test group was artificially challenged with a rhinovirus.
On the other hand, I notice on the trial with 400 patients who caught the cold naturally (which would be the population the drug would be aimed at), the study just concluded that the duration of the cold was reduced by a day.
Sorry to be the cynic, but sounds like a little fancy marketing to me.
Uh, it's already available under the name of Zicam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.