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American Morning
House Call: Colds Caused by Over 300 Viruses
Aired February 25, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Stuffy head, runny nose, pain in the pocketbook, the American economy coughs up $40 billion a year treating common colds.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now from CNN Center with some startling details.
Good morning. God bless you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, right, exactly.
Quite a price tag there, $40 billion, but those are the direct and indirect costs of the common cold. That's according to a study from the University of Michigan, my alma mater by the way -- go blue. And they figured out that actually 500 million people are year or so get a cold -- I mean, actually get colds. So, about 2.5 people on average per year.
And now, if you look at the overall direct costs and indirect costs, they find about $7.7 billion are spent on people actually going to see their doctor.
Now, there is no cure for the common cold. We know that. But there is a lot of money spent on medications. Take a look at the list of some of the dollars actually spent on medications: $2.9 billion over-the-counter medications, $400 million on prescription medications for symptomatic relief, and $1.1 billion on antibiotics. Those are some of the direct costs.
But the indirect costs are really what slug it to us. If you look at the number of days missed of work in a school, 189 million school days missed, and 126 million work days missed to care for those kids who are skipping school, and 70 million work days missed for people who -- adults who actually get the cold as well.
All of that adds up to about $40 billion a year. So quite a cost.
There are new therapies being looked into, anti-viral therapies, to try and cut down on those costs. Antibiotic use, they just dont work, so $1.1 billion not a good thing for that.
Next hour, Paula, we're going to talk about dyslexia. I've got some amazing pictures of what the brain actually goes through, what the brain looks like in someone who is dyslexic and how it might change after training. You're going to want to see these pictures -- Paula.
ZAHN: Oh, that should be fascinating. How many people have dyslexia in this country, do you know?
GUPTA: Well, the numbers vary, but they say anywhere between 2 and 7 percent of kids are actually diagnosed with it.
ZAHN: Wow!
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: Wow! We will...
GUPTA: So pretty high numbers.
ZAHN: We will look forward to that in the next hour.
GUPTA: I'll be here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 25, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Stuffy head, runny nose, pain in the pocketbook, the American economy coughs up $40 billion a year treating common colds.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now from CNN Center with some startling details.
Good morning. God bless you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, right, exactly.
Quite a price tag there, $40 billion, but those are the direct and indirect costs of the common cold. That's according to a study from the University of Michigan, my alma mater by the way -- go blue. And they figured out that actually 500 million people are year or so get a cold -- I mean, actually get colds. So, about 2.5 people on average per year.
And now, if you look at the overall direct costs and indirect costs, they find about $7.7 billion are spent on people actually going to see their doctor.
Now, there is no cure for the common cold. We know that. But there is a lot of money spent on medications. Take a look at the list of some of the dollars actually spent on medications: $2.9 billion over-the-counter medications, $400 million on prescription medications for symptomatic relief, and $1.1 billion on antibiotics. Those are some of the direct costs.
But the indirect costs are really what slug it to us. If you look at the number of days missed of work in a school, 189 million school days missed, and 126 million work days missed to care for those kids who are skipping school, and 70 million work days missed for people who -- adults who actually get the cold as well.
All of that adds up to about $40 billion a year. So quite a cost.
There are new therapies being looked into, anti-viral therapies, to try and cut down on those costs. Antibiotic use, they just dont work, so $1.1 billion not a good thing for that.
Next hour, Paula, we're going to talk about dyslexia. I've got some amazing pictures of what the brain actually goes through, what the brain looks like in someone who is dyslexic and how it might change after training. You're going to want to see these pictures -- Paula.
ZAHN: Oh, that should be fascinating. How many people have dyslexia in this country, do you know?
GUPTA: Well, the numbers vary, but they say anywhere between 2 and 7 percent of kids are actually diagnosed with it.
ZAHN: Wow!
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: Wow! We will...
GUPTA: So pretty high numbers.
ZAHN: We will look forward to that in the next hour.
GUPTA: I'll be here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
