Medical experts around the world have been researching ways to treat coronavirus as companies develop safe vaccines. Several studies have suggested that forms of the common cold may help the body build up immunity against the current pandemic, including rhinovirus.
A study from Yale University analyzes infection from rhinovirus and the influenza A virus in The Lancet journal Microbe. Getting infected with rhinovirus may equip the immune system to build up defenses against other viruses, and the team is currently researching if it does the same with coronavirus.
Rhinovirus is the most common viral infection that causes the common cold. Symptoms include sore throat, ear infection, sinus infection, and sometimes cause pneumonia.
In the study, Dr. Ellen Foxman and her team analyzed the clinical data of nearly 13,000 patients between 2016 and 2019. The authors wrote that the new pandemic "placed new urgency on examining the underlying mechanisms that influence the epidemic spread of respiratory viruses."
Viral Interference
One possible way of avoiding the spread of coronavirus is viral interference, where the infection of one virus protects against other related or unrelated viruses. From the data shared by Dr. Foxman, only a few people had rhinovirus and the influenza A virus simultaneously.
In the middle of the current flu season, experts do not know if the flu will interact with coronavirus. In the study, when the tissue was first exposed to rhinovirus, it remains uninfected by the influenza virus.
Foxman said that antiviral defenses were already active even before exposure to the flu. The immune system's production of the antiviral agent interferon was on for five days, protecting the tissue against influenza.
She explained that the common cold triggers interferon from cells that line the airway - the same place "where all these viruses need to go to grow," such as the coronavirus and all airborne viruses. The interferon response, Foxman explained, is the general defense mechanism against all viruses, including coronavirus.
READ: Some Forms of Common Cold May Give COVID-19 Immunity Lasting up to 17 Years, New Research Suggests
Triggering the Immune System Defense Mechanism
In the laboratory, Foxman's team has only begun conducting experiments with the chemical interferon to cells infected with the coronavirus. They hope that similar to their previous research, the defense mechanism triggered during the common cold will serve as a buffer against Covid-19 and other viruses.
However, unlike previous viruses, Covid-19 is a bit complex, such as the entry receptor the virus uses to infect the body. Some studies have reported that these receptors are increased by interferon. At the moment, the team is focusing on triggering the general immune response to coronavirus, even if it is just temporary protection for people in high-risk groups.
An earlier study from Duke-NUS Medical School analyzed the genetic pattern of the SARS family and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). They discovered that those previously infected and recovered from SARS in 2003 had defensive T-cells in the immune system that responded to coronavirus. Professor Antonio Bertoletti said that it might be possible that infection with related viruses can also protect from or modify the pathology caused by SARS-Cov-2.
READ: How to Discern Flu Symptoms from COVID-19
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