The Common Cold

Abstract

One of the prize-winning essays for the Lewis Cameron Undergraduate Prize 1962.

The common cold is ubiquitous. It affects all races and occurs in all climates. It is not a killing disease, but figures suggest that colds cause a loss of several million man working hours each year. One estimate put the figure at forty million,¹  another at eighty million: in either case the figure is large. Lindwell and Williams report in an investigation carried out on four groups of office workers, three in London and one in Newcastle, that 10.3% of all colds lead to an absence from work, on an average, of 2.6 days duration. It has been suggested that the common cold should be treated as a quarantable disease but it is obvious that if everybody spent an extra of 2.6 days, or longer, away from work twice a year the economic results would be devastating.