Creating a simple cure for the common cold is pretty complicated. By Meagan Morris , Metro First it starts with sneezing and a ...
Creating a simple cure for the common cold is pretty complicated.
By Meagan Morris, Metro
First it starts with sneezing and a running nose. Then
comes the cough, the congestion and watery eyes — and maybe even some
chills thrown in for good measure.
Yep, you’ve got a cold. Again.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that most of
us suffer through two or three colds a year — and we do suffer because
there’s no singular medication or vaccination that can cure the common
cold.
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Why isn’t there a cure for the common cold?
The “common cold” is more of an umbrella term for a large
swath of viruses that all cause the same symptoms, but differ in how
they affect the body. Rhinovirus causes the most cases — about 75
percent of colds — with the remainder split into side other viruses:
coronavirus, influenza, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV) and metapneumovirus.
If that wasn’t enough, each of the seven viruses have sub
viruses (known as serotypes), bringing the total number number of
viruses that cause the common cold to somewhere around 200. So, any
vaccination against the common cold would have to "somehow stuff 100
different strains into one shot,” Thomas Smith of the University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston told Business Insider.
These viruses change all the time, meaning that something
that works to cure the common cold this year probably won’t work next
year.
"There are usually 20-30 different types of rhinovirus
circulating each season in one geographic area," Yury A. Bochkov, an
associate scientist in the department of pediatrics at the University of
Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, told Business Insider,
adding that only about 10 percent will reappear in the same area the
next year.
And, unlike the flu, the common cold isn’t deadly, meaning
that any blanket treatment would have to have few side effects to make
it past the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines. "It really
had to be nearly as safe as water for approval for the general public,"
Smith told BI.
But it just might happen.
[post_ads]Research published earlier this year in the journal Nature
Communications said that new antiviral drugs that fight against the
common cold could be designed within the next 10 years.
For the research, scientists looked at the genetic material
of human parechovirus, a virus that is similar to the common cold. They
then used mathematical modeling and other research to find that the
virus relies on a “hidden code” to replicate across its genome to grow
efficiently.
"The coding works like the cogwheels in a Swiss watch. We
now need a drug that has the same effect as pouring sand into the watch;
every part of the viral mechanism could be disabled,” Professor Peter
Stockley at the University of Leeds told CNN.
A former senior staff scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
is also working on an immunization that could protect against several
viruses. Todd Rider first announced DRACO in 2011, a compound, he says,
that’s designed to "treat or prevent infections by a broad spectrum of
viruses, just as existing antibiotics can treat or prevent infections by
a broad spectrum of bacteria."
Ryder is crowdfunding to continue testing and it could be used in humans “within a decade or perhaps sooner” if all goes well.
"For the common cold in particular, DRACO was shown in
human cells to be effective against all four rhinovirus strains tested,"
Rider told BI, adding that it showed the ability "to completely
eliminate rhinoviruses without harming uninfected cells.”
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How to prevent the common cold
It’s pretty much impossible to avoid coming into contact
with a virus that causes a cold — especially if you commute on public
transportation or work in a building with other people. So, your best
bet is to try and limit your exposure to the germs by washing your hands
frequently, getting plenty of sleep and avoiding touching surfaces that
the virus can thrive on, like bathroom door handles and utensils.
And stop smoking: A 2008 study by researchers at Yale found that smoking exaggerates a smoker’s response to viral infections, leading to additional inflammation and tissue damage.
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