- An average adult gets 2 or 3 colds per year (quite avoidable).
- Children average 3 to 8 colds per year (a strain on their maturing immune system).
- 84% of colds in the US occur in the under 17s and appear to be related to their inadequate immune systems. (NCHS)
- In 2003 more than 200,000 people were hospitalized from flu complications. Of this number resulting deaths reached approx. 36,000.
- In 2004/2005 around 45,000 people died from influenza or related complications. Elderly patients formed around 20,000 of these deaths.
- The most common cold is the rhinovirus, which causes about 35% of all colds.
- During the last 100 years:
- The Spanish flu of 1918-19 caused 20 million deaths.
- The Asian flu of 1957-58 resulted in 500,000 deaths in the US.
- The Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 caused 34,000 deaths in the US.
