Upper respiratory tract infections, or URTI's as they are known are by far the commonest reason for which people will consult a Doctor. It is a broad term including Colds, Flu-like illnesses, True Flu, Sore throats, sinusitis, ear infections.....the list is long. Basically the term includes anything connected to the airways that happens above the voicebox.

The vast bulk of these problems are due to virus infections or the consequences of previous viral infections. Bacterial infections are unusual in all but a few specific cases. Even at this stage it must be pointed out that as bacterial infection is rarely the cause of the symptoms, treatment with antibiotics is pointless. Anti-viral treatment ( which is at least aiming to remove the correct source of theinfection) can be helpful, but only in a few very specific situations. Unfortunately at the moment there are no catch-all "broad spectrum" anti virals in the way we have many broad spectrum antibiotics.

The vast majority of URTI's sort themselves out and resolve in about a week- ten days irrespective of what medications we take or do not take. We can not treat the cause, the virus. We can however treat, and help to relieve the symptoms.

The symptoms of URTI's vary hugely depending on the part of the upper respiratory tract that is involved. Nasal virus infection gives a blocked up runny nose ie. a cold. Involvement of the trroat, a sore throat, and so on. The particular combination of symptoms that people suffer from vary considerably from person. So Joe Bloggs with virus X may get a blocked up sose and sinus pain. His brother Jack Bloggs, with exactly the same virus may get a sore throat and earache. Same virus, just different people. Despite this, an outbreak of a particular bug will give similay symptoms in most people, so we get mini-epidemics of sore throats, colds etc, with lots of people complaining of similar symptoms all at the same time.

Because the symptoms are so variable any sub division of URTI's is rather arbitrary as there is so much overlap in the symptoms. However I will do my best.