A BLOW-BY-BLOW ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE COMMON COLD...
7:58 A.M.
The victim steps into an empty lift which takes her up to her office.
Moments before, the night watchman had got off the same lift. On the ride down he had been singing one of his favourite film songs when he was interrupted by a sneeze.
7:59 A.M.
The air in the lift has attracted several million drops of moisture, spewed into the air by the watchman’s singing and sneezing. And clinging to each drop are thousands of millions of infinitesimal specs of dust - each particle a rhino, or “nose” virus.
While the victim travels up to her office in the lift, a quarter of a million of the moist, dust-laden particles lodge themselves in the minute hills and valleys of her nose and began drifting along the membrane lining towards her throat.
10:00 A.M.
Drifting randomly, several of the dust particles begin to bump into cells. The attraction is irresistible and, shortly, hundreds of thousands of viruses have fastened tightly to the cells.
12:00 NOON.
Feeling the tickle, perhaps, of the virus clinging to the skin, the cell puckers up, surrounds the rhinovirus and drinks it in. Having admitted a visitor to its inner sanctum, the host errs again and obligingly removes the virus’s coat of armour, dissolving it with an enzyme. This unleashes its deadly essence - a harmless looking bit of translucent jelly; viral nucleic acid.
Uncloaked, the virus is nothing but pure potential, containing an “inaccurate” genetic programme of reproduction. Its single purpose - to multiply.
2:30 P.M.
The virus, which brought with it none of the machinery or materials necessary to the task of reproduction, begins to wrest control of the cell’s manufacturing centre.
8:00 P.M.
In 900,000 cells in the victim’s nose, the manufacturing centres are now in the control of the invading viruses.
2:34 A.M.
Reproduction of new viruses is almost complete.
7:00 A.M.
Assembly of the young, freshly produced, viruses begins. The progeny- 100, perhaps, in each cell- gather together.
8:16 A.M.
Twenty-four hours after entering the victim’s body, the new viruses make their triumphant escape, massing towards the edge of the cells and bursting like silent fireworks through the cell walls. Fatally wounded, the cells soon die. Within the hour, progeny from each of 900,000 cells - 90 million strong - drift down the throat towards healthy cells.
8:25 A.M.
Arriving at her office on the second morning, the victim clears her throat. She realizes that she may be getting a sore throat. She decides to have tea with lemon instead of her usual black coffee.
10:00 A.M.
A contingent of viruses, in their drifting, run into trouble in the tonsils and adenoids, where they set off an alarm in the victim’s immune system. Patrolling lymphocytes cells hunt and kill many rhinoviruses, and transport others back to lymph node headquarters for scrutiny. Based on observation of the pattern of the invader’s coat of armour, the immune system begins production of antibodies that will kill them.
11:00 A.M.
There are, however, far more of the enemy than the lymphocytes can combat, and several thousand rhinoviruses gain a hold. The victim finds that her sore throat refuses to go away.
DAY THREE
Forty-eight hours after the victim inhaled the contaminated air in the lift, the second generation of viral progeny - 9 thousand million of them - floods into circulation. In the nose, dead cells begin to accumulate by the millions and the body secretes fluid to wash them from the field. The victim notices a runny nose.
DAY FOUR
At 72 hours, the third generation of young viruses pours into the victim’s system. There are now close to a million million, and for every virus the lymphocytes manage to kill, 10,000 take its place.
That morning, the victim awakes feeling miserable. Her eyes and nose are rivers. Her head aches. Her throat is dry and sore. She reports ill, stays in bed, drinks about two litres of orange juice and swallows a handful of aspirin and vitamin C. But the virus continues to proliferate and cell losses rise higher.
DAY FIVE
At 96 hours, something happens. Suddenly the virus stops infecting new cells and the body begins to wash away the dead cells and rhinoviruses. But exactly what happens is a mystery. Why a cold stops short, instead of persisting for weeks or months, scientists cannot say. Most of the factors involved in colds are simply not understood by virologists despite much research.
DAY SIX
Our victim is back in office, refreshed after her enforced bed rest. While entering the lift, she had greeted the night watchman, who was stepping out, little knowing what connection he had with her recent illness!
