Drug prescriptions in adult common cold of viral origin

No treatment for adult cold has really been very effective. However, drug prescriptions are numerous and varied, representing both a danger in terms of public health and a risk of individual adverse effects, and an unjustified cost in terms of health expenses. After an analysis of the literature and socioeconomic data, the report proposes (i) to create a "National Observatory of the Common Cold", (ii) to improve the training of doctors and pharmacists based on a new nosology: IVVAS, (iii) to define the place of antibiotic therapy in the treatment of common cold based on the recommendations of medical societies, (iv) to limit the use of steroid therapy, which is most often inappropriate, and the use of vasoconstrictors because of their side effects, suggesting that they should be only delivered on medical prescription, (v) to alert the general public of the dangers and inefficiency of self-medication. (C) 2020 l'Academie nationale de medecine. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.