Though it resembles a tamed, manageable person, the common cold stands as a resistant and unyielding opponent. The rhinovirus infection which is now perennial (year-round, recurrent) and its ability to evade our best efforts, such as Tamiflu, an antiviral medication, well illustrate the strength of a virus. From the cold’s complexity to the varied severity of each case, several elements determine the difficulty in discovering a cure.
To begin with, the rate of mutation of rhinovirus viruses as well as the wide number of strains creates a complicating barrier. For comprehensive reading, check out Homeland EBooks Every year new stands identifies over 100 distinct varieties and each with individual genetic composition; therefore, obtaining a general treatment which will work on all kinds of cancer becomes none other than mission impossible.
In addition the constant mutation seen in this virus increases the challenge we are facing. It’s hard for the body to develop an immune response while the disease keeps mutating this way, rendering efforts to use past treatments fruitless.
So another challenge appears in the form of the inner relation between the virus and the human immune system. Viruses may be obligated, but their bodies develoved the very harmful defense that the virus used as an invading against them, even the cold virus thinks wisely to escape detection and disable our immune response, causing prolonged disease.
Humanly speaking, the symptoms of the common cold, although inconvenient, are typically moderate and present short-term symptoms. The matter is often of quick-solving nature, thus people tend to attribute it to minor health concerns without seeking the help, thus never giving a hint to start a research for targeted therapies.
In spite of these barriers, the research endeavor remains perspicacious in untangling the complexity issues of the common cold viruses. In the time to come, improvement in the antiviral medications, immunotherapy and prevention tactics surely present a glimmer of hope for the emergence of treatment methods that are indeed more effective than those at present. Now that the pandemic is winding down there is one thing for sure, that bolstering our body’s inherent immune system through healthy living patterns is the best defense strategy to fight this formidable opposition.
