With sicknesses like the flu and common cold spreading through communities this winter, medicines that combat their symptoms are becoming harder and harder to find.

Jon Valentino, a pharmacist at Institute Hill Pharmacy in Butler, said Tylenol, in particular, has been a rarity on store shelves because the demand for it has made it more scarce over the past month.

“Children's Tylenol has basically been unavailable,” Valentino said. “There is Tylenol in liquid form. It's a constant search for everybody.”

According to Valentino, the suppliers of medicines that contain acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, have been struggling to keep up with the demand.

“McKesson is our main wholesaler out of New Castle,” Valentino said. “It's a back-order situation with them.”

Doug Sprankle, owner of Sprankle's Neighborhood Market in Saxonburg, said the Tylenol the store is able to stock has not remained on shelves long. Additionally, cough drops have been in short supply compared to the demand at the market.

“We're all seeing it. It's affecting all of us,” Sprankle said of the medicine shortage. “The entire nation is experiencing it. If they do send some on a truck, it usually disappears pretty quickly.”

Sprankle said he can see an end in sight to the Tylenol shortage, but it will likely come once demand for the medicines declines over time.

“It might get better as the cold season starts subsiding,” Sprankle said.