The Common Cold `Could` Have a Cure

With the genome code of the common cold virus recently unravelled there could be a cure on the way, though not everyone is convinced.

The average adult catches 2 to 4 colds per year, with children catching up to 10. Recently, researchers have managed to map 99 strains of the common cold virus with a new third group, previously unknown, being discovered. This third group seems to be the nasty one causing more than just a runny nose.

Finding the Virus’s Weakness

With the cataloguing of the virus’ weaknesses, asthma expert, Stephen B. Liggett, is convinced that treatment for the common cold is close.

- We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles’ heel, and that a very effective treatment for the common cold is at hand, - said Liggett.

- Let's get, perhaps, a single pill that will kill the virus that day, that moment, and within six hours you are cured, - he said for the Baltimore Sun.

There definitely are problems with the curing the virus, the first being that you can actually catch two strains at once, and the second is that those two strains can join forces and mutate into a completely new strain altogether.

No Vaccine

- It's why we'll never have a vaccine for the common cold - says Ann Palmenberg in a statement from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

While Palmenberg, leader of the research teams who unravelled the cold code, is not so confident of a cure for the virus she concurs with Liggett that a treatment could be on the cards.

- No vaccine, but maybe a drug, – she says.

With the new findings being seen as a breakthrough it could be very unlikely that a drug will actually be produced, as the massive cost involved in research and development of a new drug not to mention FDA approval, would outweigh the demand and, of course, profit margin.