Have you ever found yourself sitting a little too close to a sniffling and sneezing stranger, and wondered if they’re contagiously sick or suffering due to allergies?
Fortunately, recent research supports that someone can be exposed to the common cold, and not get sick. This happens when your respiratory system is “free” to react to the germs in the air before they make you sick, and not fighting other stress from the environment.
Disease Transmission Through Sneezing – Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Millions of common colds per year are caused by the rhinovirus. According to researchers, 2 million cases develop into respiratory illness, leading to hospitalization. In a recently published study in Cell Reports, Ellen F. Foxman and her team of scientists used two different airway epithelial cells between the nose and the lungs, nasal and lung cells respectively, to observe their responses to rhinovirus exposure and oxidative stress exposure.
Human Rhinovirus – Photo from Flickr
The outer layer cells of the airway normally provides the body protection from detrimental substances in the air. The study focused on the protective response of these cells further and found that exposure to oxidative stress increases the cell susceptibility to rhinovirus infection. This balance describes the natural compromise between taking viral versus oxidative airway damage. Furthermore, the study singled out smokers as the patient group most susceptible to rhinovirus infection, as smoking causes oxidative stress.
The researchers look forward to finding ways to protect against oxidative stress to better defend against rhinovirus infection.
While the common cold doesn’t sound dangerous, getting sick can lead to complications. These complications add to my long list of reasons to not smoke.
-Alyssa
