Why have we still not found a cure for the common cold?

Question

Obviously we have many ways to speed up recovery, such as large doses of Vitamin C, Echinacea and Golden Seal, but why don't we have one simple pill that kills the bug within a couple of hours? If we know how to do brain surgery and give liver transplants, why don't we have a cure for an illness this small?

Thank you!

Answer 1

The common cold continues to evolve and change so we can never cure it like most diseases. Most things we cure are cured because we introduce them in small amounts to people and let their own bodies fight and kill it. With the common cold we fight and kill it but it mutates inside our bodies and when we pass someone else they don't have that particular strain and we infect them. So unless we limit contact with people you can't wipe it out.

Answer 2

Your first two answerers are correct, but I add this:

Half of ALL communicable diseases would be erradicated if we ALL did one simple thing:

We washed our hands. Water & Soap. Not just water.
Often and thoroughly. Individuals and most importantly - those in the MEDICAL COMMUNITY are missing this key practice.

Here is an excerpt from a review of this book (**):
" Reaching out and touching someone can kill. For instance, as many as 100,000 people a year in the United States die from infections they contract in hospitals. How does this happen? Often it's simply because doctors and nurses fail to properly wash their hands and thus pass on germs from patient to patient" - Reviewed by Todd Woody @ CONSUMER HEALTH


081407 5:35

Answer 3

First of all, because there is no such thing as the common cold. It's not a disease. It's hundreds of diseases.

We can't even stay ahead of the flu, which is more like a few dozen diseases, so it's no wonder we can't cure the "common cold."

Answer 4

We can't cure the common cold because of one reason, it is a virus not a bacteria

Answer 5

Because there are so many different versions of bacteria out there that we will never become imune to it. Pluss as time goes on like all life forms bacteria evolves.

Answer 6

Because then it would put medicine companies out of business and people out of work.