An Overview of Alternative Herbal Methods Applied in Cases of In Seasonal Common Cold Caused by Viruses

Abstract

The common cold caused by viruses is an infectious upper respiratory tract disease. A large number of viruses that cause the disease have been identified. Coronavirüs, parainfluenza respiratory synctial virus (RSV), influenza, rhinoviruses are mostly known as common cold-causing viruses. Often the common cold is self-limiting and short-term disease. But, when it is evaluated in terms of quality of life and job losses, the magnitude of its effect is equivalent to chronic diseases. The lack of precise treatment and the desire to recover as soon as well has led to an increase in the orientation towards complementary alternative medicine practices besides drug treatments. One of the complementary alternative medicine practices is herbal treatment methods. In this study, herbal treatment methods used in the case of colds and their frequency of use were investigated. For this purpose, 298 students who were chosen randomly from the students studying in the Faculty of Health Sciences and who agreed to participate in the study were selected as the sample of the study. The reasons for using of the herbal products in colds by students and the levels of their use were tried to be determined. Keywords: The common cold, Herbal treatment, Colds, Complementary alternative medicine DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/77-02 Publication date: July 31 st 2020