SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Believers of old folk wisdom now have scientific evidence to support the idea that cold weather or drafts makes people more susceptible to the common cold.
Yale News is reporting that a team of Yale researchers have published a report that lower temperature in the nasal cavity diminishes the body's immune response, reducing the ability to ward off rhinovirus.
They found that the innate immune response to the rhinovirus is impaired at the lower body temperature compared to the core body temperature. The reason for the impairment is the lower production of Type I Interferon in the cooler nasal cavities. Type I Interferon is a signaling agent to signal the body's antiviral immune responses. With reduced immune response the rhinovirus is more able to establish a foot hold.
"The study also strongly suggested that the varying temperatures influenced the immune response, rather than the virus itself" said study senior author and Yale professor of immunobiology Akiko Iwasaki.
The study abstract (paywalled) at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explains that rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, replicate better at the cooler temperatures (33°C) found in the nasal cavity than at lung temperature (37°C), but previously the underlying mechanisms for this difference were not known. The principal discovery is the reduced interferon signaling at cooler nasal temperatures.
One would think that the Asian tradition of wearing surgical masks when they have a cold might be more effective if worn before they catch a cold.
(Score: 1) by Rich on Sunday January 11 2015, @03:21AM
Although "Schlafmütze" (lit. "sleeping cap", meaning "sleepy head") is an insult in German, I started wearing one a couple of years ago, whenever I feel that my immune response is down. Prior to that, I would usually come down once a year with a bad sinusitis which knocked me out for half a week to a week; these days, if it's not avoided completely, it's at most three days of not feeling well. For my personal anectodal evidence, keeping the head cavities warm works wonders.
In acute cases I additionally have some Crataegus based tea, once recommended to me by my GP, which raises the body temperature in general and which, subjectively, has a good effect too. None of the other "household" remedies suggested and tried had any effect that I noticed. Note that my colds have for the very largest parts been bacterial and not, as described in the paper, viral. As far as I am concerned, the warmer head cavities seem to provide generally enhanced immune response.