Science & Technology

Can being cold really give you the cold ?

By T.K. Randall
November 29, 2016

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Most people will remember being told to wrap up warm as a child to avoid getting a cold, but this idea tends to be dismissed these days on the basis that the common cold is caused by the rhinovirus, not low temperatures - you have to have picked it up off someone else... right ?

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for scientists researching this subject is that, while it has long been believed that the rhinovirus replicates more readily in colder environments, the exact reason for this has remained tantalisingly elusive.

Now though, Assistant Professor Ellen Foxman and colleagues at the Yale University School of Medicine have finally been able to make some headway on the matter by determining that the immune systems of laboratory mice produce fewer proteins known as interferons in lower temperatures thus making it much easier for the rhinovirus to flourish.In a new study published this year, the team also found similar results in human cells - the immune pathways responsible for blocking viral growth are more active in warmer temperatures.

So while being cold cannot in itself cause the common cold, if you have already picked up the virus in your nose then staying warm can help to stop the symptoms from developing.

"If the virus isn't in your nose, it can't cause infection," said Foxman.

Source: Popular Science

Tags: Common cold