Dec 22, 2019 20:00:00

Research confirms that if you are already infected with a virus, it will be less likely to be infected with another virus.

By

gpointstudio

It has been known for a long time that the incidence of common colds is reduced when influenza is prevalent. As evidence to support this trend, a research team at the Virus Research Center at the University of Glasgow in the UK reports the results of a large-scale survey that “ if you are already infected with a virus, it becomes difficult to get infected with other viruses ”.

Virus–virus interactions impact the population dynamics of influenza and the common cold | PNAS
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/12/10/1911083116

University of Glasgow-University news-Cold infections may be less frequent in people with the flu
https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_703609_en.html

The research team conducted 11 virus tests on 36,157 patients with acute respiratory illness . As a result, it was found that 35% of the subjects were positive for the virus, and 8% of them were “positive for multiple viruses”.

By

qimono

The research team is notable for the correlation between influenza A virus and rhinovirus, one of the leading causes of colds. Research has shown that if a person infected with influenza A is infected with another virus, the chance of being infected with rhinovirus is approximately 70% lower than the chance of being infected with another virus.

About the survey results, Sema Nickbakhsh, the first author of the paper, believes that the cause is that the viruses are competing for “nutrition for the virus to grow” in the throat, like lions and spotted hyenas compete for food. However, we are investigating a variety of possibilities, such as the immune response caused by one virus affecting other viruses. '

By PublicDomainPictures

In addition, as a result of analysis using a computer model, it was found that the correlation between influenza A and rhinoviruses affects not only the body of each individual but also the epidemic of diseases such as mass infections, etc. The team points out. Dr. Pablo R. Murcia, who led the research, said, “Traditionally, there has been only research on viruses alone. Research on correlations between viruses has led to the spread of multiple virus epidemics. Circulation, spread of viruses across multiple ages, and infection by specific viruses, “infects the nose but not the lungs” “infects the lungs but infects the nose It may clarify the cause of the phenomenon where multiple cases such as “no infection” can be seen. ”

In addition, with the exception of a few unfortunate people, if you are infected with one virus, you are less likely to be infected with another virus. Dr. Murcia says that the “average” can also be examined.

The problem with this research method is that you can only understand the “correlation between viruses” and not the “cause of creating the correlation between viruses”. It is mentioned that the behavior of the virus of “patients who have not developed respiratory disease” cannot be grasped.