Approaches to the control of respiratory virus diseases

Viruses of various biological types are known to cause a wide range of acute respiratory infections, ranging from mild colds and catarrh to severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Bacteria also cause respiratory diseases including serious conditions such as otitis media and pneumonia. The whole situation is complex and to understand the epidemiology we also need to consider nutrition, environment, climate, and chronic diseases. Acute respiratory viral diseases are very common in all areas of the world and contribute to morbidity and probably to mortality. There are no antiviral drugs or vaccines which would be generally useful. It ought to be possible to reduce the effects of these diseases by improving the standard of general management of cases. This would involve careful nursing, administration of appropriate antibiotics, and referral of severe cases to a properly staffed and equipped hospital. Further research is needed to develop ways of doing this and to evaluate the results.