ABSTRACT
The ancient poet aptly dispels the notion that the syndrome we know as the ‘‘cold’’ is common or trivial-indeed, ‘‘wretched cold’’ is a more appropriate name for this scourge of mankind. The common cold is responsible for 25 million days of missed work, 23 million days of missed school, and 84 million physician visits each year in the United States alone [1]. The common cold is also the most frequent cause of inappropriate antibiotic use in the United States [2,3]. Similarly, acute bronchitis is diagnosed millions of times each year in this country and is responsible for almost 30% of all antibiotic prescriptions-this despite the fact that the vast majority of cases, as with the common cold, are viral in origin [4]. Hence, the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of these two viral syndromes has important health implications for infected individuals as well as for society as a whole.
