Reader\'s Digest Australia - 05.2019

90 | May• 2019

H E ALTH

ILLUSTRATION: SERGE BLOCH

13

Things You Didn’t

Kn ow About the

Common

Cold

BY BRANDON SPECKTOR

1 The term ‘common cold’ is a bit of

a misnomer. ‘Common’ implies that

there’s a single ordinary pathogen to

blame for your runny nose, coughing

and mild fatigue. Actually, there’s a

huge array of viruses – more than 200

of them – that induce colds, each with

its own means of evading your body’s

defences. For this reason alone, it’s

unlikely that a catchall ‘cure for the

common cold’ will ever be found.

2 As for the ‘cold’ part, well, it’s

complicated. Scientists don’t know

for sure whether low temperatures

affect a virus’s pathogenicity, but

they do believe that colds are more

prevalent in winter in part because