The common cold virus may provide partial protection against the coronavirus, a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases noted.

Scientists have found that human rhinovirus activates an innate immune response that appears to be able to block SARS-CoV-2 replication in airway cells.

Mathematical modeling carried out by the research team showed that this virus-virus interaction could have a population-wide effect and that the increasing prevalence of rhinovirus could reduce the number of new cases of coronavirus.

Human rhinoviruses cause the common cold and are the most common respiratory viruses found in humans. Previous research has shown that interactions between rhinoviruses and other respiratory viruses can influence the type and severity of infections in humans, as well as how they infect and spread among groups of people (infection patterns).

Viruses infect only a small number of cell types in the body, while respiratory viruses usually infect cells in the respiratory tract.

In the study, the authors first infected human respiratory cells with SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory, replicating the cellular environment in which infections usually occur. They then studied the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in these cells in both the presence and absence of rhinovirus.