We have all heard typical advice from mothers and grandmothers: “Bring a jacket in case it gets cold“. The logical goal of this recommendation is to avoid discomfort from the cold, as well as to prevent possible respiratory infections. There is a strong belief that walking barefoot, going outside with wet hair, or generally any activity that exposes us to the cold, can make us cold best case scenario. However, scientists have tried for years to disprove this myth, explaining that it’s the germs that make us sick. In the case of these infections, they are usually caused by viruses such as rhinovirus. If so, why are there so many cases of colds, flu or even COVID-19 in Russia? winter?
There are several hypotheses about this. On the one hand, when it’s cold, we spend more time in closed places. And this is how we have seen and continue to see with COVID-19 pandemicgreatly increases the chances of infection. In addition, the airways are often more annoyed, facilitating the penetration of germs that cause illnesses such as colds or flu. At the same time, without forgetting that many of these microorganisms survive better in the environment at lower temperature conditions.
But that’s not all. Now a group of scientists from Harvard and Northeastern Universitiesput forward another hypothesis, including the weakness of the first line of defense of our the immune system.
The first barrier against the cold
Although there are different routes by which respiratory viruses enter the body, one of the most important is nose. So that’s where the first barrier of protection against them.
Actually, for this they are studied. nasal vaccines against COVID-19. They will attack the virus right at the entrance, which will greatly reduce its ability to reproduce. But that’s another story. Coming back to the common cold and other respiratory viruses, when they enter the nasal mucosa, they secrete something known as collections of extracellular vesicles. Vesicles of this type perform many functions in the body, not all of them are defensive in nature. However, in this case, they are responsible for surround and attack virus particles before they penetrate further into the body.
Especially it concerns one coronavirus and two rhinovirusesthey all cause colds. And then comes the moment of truth: what does all this have to do with the cold?
Roy “doesn’t like” the cold
In a study just published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Its authors found that when a group of healthy volunteers were exposed to temperatures 4.4°C for 15 minutesthe internal temperature of his nose dropped by 5°C.
Then they used a model that mimics the tissue of the nose and subjected it to this effect. temperature change, to check if there were noticeable effects on the above swarms. And so it was, because the number of released extracellular vesicles fell by 42%. Besides, even those who got freedom had some of their disruption of antiviral proteins. In short, the cold opens the sieve in protecting the nose from respiratory viruses.
Does this mean that it was a lie that we are not sick of the cold? Not really. If we walk around the house with wet hair and bare feet, we may be cold, but if we are alone and no one can infect us, then it won’t make us sick. In the same way, if we go out without our jackets and it gets cold, but we don’t put ourselves sick in front of anyone, we won’t catch a cold either. The main actors here are still respiratory viruses. But the cold seems to help them do their thing. Just in case, wear a jacket. It’s already refreshing.
Source: Hiper Textual
