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Researchers have developed a vaccine that may be effective at preventing many forms of the common cold (rhinovirus):
A mixture of 25 types of inactivated rhinovirus can stimulate neutralizing antibodies against all 25 in mice, and a mixture of 50 types can do the same thing in rhesus macaques. In this paper, antibodies generated in response to the vaccine were tested for their ability to prevent the virus from infecting human cells in culture. However, the vaccines were not tested for their ability to stop animals from getting sick.
"There are no good animal models of rhinovirus replication," Moore says. "The next step would be human challenge models with volunteers, which are feasible because the virus is not very pathogenic."
Emory has optioned the vaccine technology to a startup company, Meissa Vaccines, Inc., which is pursuing a product development plan with support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' vaccine manufacturing services.
A polyvalent inactivated rhinovirus vaccine is broadly immunogenic in rhesus macaques (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12838) (DX)
As the predominant aetiological agent of the common cold, human rhinovirus (HRV) is the leading cause of human infectious disease. Early studies showed that a monovalent formalin-inactivated HRV vaccine can be protective, and virus-neutralizing antibodies (nAb) correlated with protection. However, co-circulation of many HRV types discouraged further vaccine efforts. Here, we test the hypothesis that increasing virus input titres in polyvalent inactivated HRV vaccine may result in broad nAb responses. We show that serum nAb against many rhinovirus types can be induced by polyvalent, inactivated HRVs plus alhydrogel (alum) adjuvant. Using formulations up to 25-valent in mice and 50-valent in rhesus macaques, HRV vaccine immunogenicity was related to sufficient quantity of input antigens, and valency was not a major factor for potency or breadth of the response. Thus, we have generated a vaccine capable of inducing nAb responses to numerous and diverse HRV types.
(Score: 2) by gidds on Tuesday September 27 2016, @12:51PM
If that's the only change you make in your lifestyle — if you carry on going to work and using public transport and shops and everything else — then you're part of the reason why we all suffer!
I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home when necessary, so when I have anything infectious, I try to stay at home: partly because I usually feel pretty lousy and not up to the 3-hour commute, but partly because I don't want to share it with my work colleagues, fellow travellers, and everyone else I might meet.
And if that's the only change you need to make, then you're lucky! I've had colds which made me feel absolutely terrible for days on end. And there's nothing like the dismay that comes when you're booked to sing at some event (especially when it's a solo), and a week beforehand you realise you're getting a cold and there's no way you'll be able to sing properly... (Sometimes I can't even speak, let alone sing...)
I quite agree that most of the so-called remedies do little or nothing, though. I take paracetamol when needed, but other than that my main medicine is a strong ginger and lemon infusion.
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(Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday September 27 2016, @07:16PM
I work in a country with several weeks of mandatory paid holiday leave, mandatory paid sick leave, compassionate leave, free healthcare and all kinds of worker benefits.
A day off work for a cold is bloody hilarious.
I'd be laughed out of my bosses office at best. And I consider them to be an extremely reasonable employer.
An employment tribunal over such things would almost certainly find AGAINST me. A cold or sneeze is not a reason to stay home.
P.S. I work in schools. I guarantee you that if it was a stomach infection or similar, I'd be signed off quickly by my employer. Children aren't allowed in if they've vomited in the last 48 hours.
But a cold? Nothing. I'd be laughed at even asking for a day off unless I was literally unable to work.
The reason you suffer with them is because you've avoided exposure to a minor nuisance for so long that they hit you harder than anyone else.
(Score: 2) by gidds on Wednesday September 28 2016, @12:08PM
I spend nearly 3 hours every weekday on public transport, and contract 2–3 colds per year, so I wouldn't exactly say I've 'avoided exposure'.
Maybe I'm just unlucky that they hit me hard. I do know from experience that if I'm not very careful it gets infected; last time that happened, it turned into laryngitis and I couldn't even speak for a week...
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