Winter has come with its dull and gloomy characteristics and so has the common cold. For thousands of years, this viral infection has been the world’s most widespread infectious disease.
Almost everyone gets the common cold several times every year. Yet, modern science has failed to discover any effective cure.
The common mistake people make while talking about this cold is that it is caused by a single virus. In fact, it is caused by a variety of viruses, seven groups to be precise. Each group has subgroups and altogether over 200 viruses attack the total human population constantly, causing sore throats, headaches, coughs, and sneezes.
These viruses cause inflammation of the membranes that line the nose and throat. Adults catch cold two to three times a year on average while children do even more. Throughout the year, children miss school while adults often go to work with runny noses, causing the infection to spread.
Though the cause behind the common cold was identified in the 1950s, viruses that cause the problem have been tied to the earliest human history. A research article published in the Science journal in 2004 by researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences said human adenovirus C (HAdV-C), a species of virus that typically causes mild cold-like illnesses in children, perhaps evolved more than 700,000 years ago, long before Homo sapiens walked the Earth.
Ancient humans believed low temperatures penetrated the human body and caused cold syndromes. They used various types of warm drinks to treat cold.
Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician who popularised clinical observation, thought a build-up of waste materials in the brain was the root cause of cold. From ancient Greece to late medieval Europe, bloodletting, leeches, and stronger treatments like chicken soup have all been used in attempts to speed up recovery.
Ma Huang, a plant frequently brewed as tea, has been used by the Chinese to treat blocked noses for at least 3,000 years. It contains pseudoephedrine, a decongestant frequently found in contemporary over-the-counter cold remedies.
Pedacius Dioscorides, a Roman surgeon serving under Nero, praised chicken soup as a treatment as early as AD 60 while Moses Maimonides, a physician in the 12th century, lauded it as an excellent food as well as medication. Since chicken contains the amino acid cysteine, which has mild decongestant properties, modern studies have shown that neither of these predictions was overly off-base.
Modern studies sped up when the United Kingdom set up the Common Cold Unit in 1946. After decade-long research, researchers discovered the rhinovirus in 1956, the main cause behind the common cold.
The research team tried to develop a practical treatment, but every time they came up with a method, it did not work, except for one. They found zinc acetate or zinc gluconate lozenges can somewhat cure the common cold.
Even though modern science has altered almost every aspect of medicine, it has not yet developed any radically new cold treatments. The problem is even though all types of cold have similar physical symptoms, each of the virus groups that cause them has a unique method of infecting our cells. This makes it difficult to produce a vaccine that is effective against all kinds of cold.
Up to 75 per cent of cold in adults is brought on by rhinovirus, the smallest cold pathogen in terms of size. At some point, we will need to combat all virus families in order to defeat the common cold.
In 2000, ViroPharma, an American pharmaceutical company, developed a pill to treat the common cold, and test trials showed it could cure people. But the success was short-lived as researchers found the viruses mutated against the pill and the pill then had zero effects on those.
In 1957, Winston Price at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a vaccine which successfully stopped the outbreak among the vaccinated subjects. But soon after, the viruses mutated in a similar way against the vaccine.
Viruses mutate all the time, but the rate at which the cold-causing ones do is astonishing. Our immune system fights viruses continuously by raising body temperature, producing snot, widening blood vessels, and sending white blood vessels where needed. But viruses have defence mechanisms too.
Vaccines developed till now can protect against one or two viruses or a single subgroup. This means they cannot protect us against all viruses.
The drugs we use nowadays for treating cold are not clinically 100 per cent proven. Most of them contain paracetamol. On the other hand, antibiotics do not work for the common cold as they are used to cure bacterial infections.
However, some preliminary prevention measures can be taken to stop catching a cold, said Dr Razia Rahman, senior medical officer at Shaheed Dr Muhammad Murtaza Medical Centre at the University of Dhaka.
She said the virus usually spreads through sneezing and coughing. She suggested using masks always in public gatherings.
“Using tissues or handkerchiefs while sneezing or coughing, wearing warm clothes, avoiding cold food and drinks, using blankets while sleeping, switching off the fan or air-conditioner, and using hot water while bathing can be a good practice during winter,” she told The Business Post.
Some herbs rich in spices, such as cloves and ginger, can be taken regularly while taking a lot of vitamin C increases immunity, she said.
“Some common medicines, such as Elatrol, Monas, Desloratadine, Fexofenadine, Tofen, and Ambrox, can be used in case of cold. However, no medicine should be taken without consulting a doctor,” Razia said.
She said medication can be started if the condition does not improve within three to four days after exposure.
“If you have a fever after a cold, the cold intensifies and phlegm accumulates in the chest. You should then consult a doctor without delay,” the physician added.
