Don’t demand an IV drip for a cold or ordinary fever, and don’t go for seasonal drips to “flush” or “clear” blood vessels

Ordinary colds and viral sore throat are listed by Guangdong health authorities as conditions that in principle do not need an IV. At a National Health Commission briefing an expert clarified that seasonal drips do not wash plaque out of vessels and may add load on heart and kidneys. Of drug adverse reactions reported nationwide, over half involve injection routes, and nine in ten of those are intravenous.

Cost

No money, and you also save the drip fee and hours sitting in a clinic. The hard part is that many people think a bottle clears them faster, and some older people have made seasonal drips a habit — when a doctor will not prescribe, it feels like they were not taken seriously.

Benefit

No study specifically compared IV versus no IV for a cold, so this item rests on official documents and monitoring data. First colds. Guangdong’s health and family-planning commission issued a 2017 document requiring primary facilities to cut unnecessary IVs. It states drugs should follow WHO’s principle: “oral if possible; intramuscular if injection is needed rather than intravenous.” Only three situations use an IV: swallowing difficulty; severe absorption problems such as vomiting or severe diarrhoea; and critical, fast-moving illness that needs high drug levels in the body quickly. An attached list of common outpatient and emergency conditions that in principle need no IV starts in internal medicine with “upper respiratory infection: ordinary cold, viral pharyngitis.” Next “flushing vessels.” The National Health Commission held a briefing on 6 August 2025. A chief physician from Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, clarified the rumour. The quote: “The claim that seasonal IV drips can clear vessels and prevent cerebral infarction is wrong.” Drips cannot “wash away” or “clear” atherosclerotic plaque. Blind drips may add load on heart or kidneys and even trigger heart failure. Finally risk. The National Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Annual Report (2024) breaks reports down by route. Of reported reactions, injection routes were 57.2% and oral 33.1%. Among injections, intravenous was 91.0%. That is the share of reports, not the chance of harm per drip. It looks worthwhile because the bottle is visible, you lie there until it finishes, and it feels as if the drug arrives faster and fuller.

Notes

Grade C because there are only official documents and expert clarification, not a trial counting how many fewer events skipping IV produces. When an IV is truly needed — severe dehydration, vomiting so drugs cannot be taken, critical illness — follow the doctor. Asking a doctor for antibiotics for a cold is also useless — Section 34, Item 7 (no antibiotics for a cold). For diarrhoea start with oral rehydration salts — Section 34, Item 8 (ORS). What actually prevents stroke is controlling blood pressure and lipids and taking long-term medicine as prescribed — Section 1, Item 7 (measure blood pressure) and Section 2, Item 12 (check lipids regularly). Lists of conditions that do not need IV are set by each province; Guangdong’s is from 2017; whether it was updated later was not checked. Benefit set to small by judgment: what you save is one drip’s fee and a few hours; adverse reactions cannot be turned into a per-drip probability. Beneficiaries are you and older family members.

Sources · 3

1. 广东省卫生计生委办公室 (2017). 关于加强基层医疗卫生机构静脉输液管理的通知（粤卫办函〔2017〕332 号）及附件「门、急诊原则上不需要输液治疗的常见病多发病」，广州市从化区人民政府网站转载. conghua.gov.cn/attachment/7/7361/7361750/7215…
2. 国家卫生健康委员会 (2025). 国家卫生健康委员会 2025 年 8 月 6 日新闻发布会文字实录. nhc.gov.cn/xcs/c100122/202508/8458a4794827428…
3. 国家药品不良反应监测中心 (2025). 国家药品不良反应监测年度报告（2024 年）. cdr-adr.org.cn/center_news/202504/t20250407_5…