Exposure to the rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, can protect against infection by the virus which causes Covid-19, researchers have found.

Triggering these defenses early in the course of Covid-19 infection holds promise to prevent or treat the infection, said Ellen Foxman, Assistant Professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine.

One way to do this is by treating patients with interferons, an immune system protein which is also available as a drug.

"But it all depends upon the timing," Foxman said.

Interferon treatment holds promise but it could be tricky, she said, because it would be mostly effective in the days immediately after infection, when many people exhibit no symptoms.

The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

For the study, the team infected lab-grown human airway tissue with SARS-CoV-2 and found that for the first three days, viral load in the tissue doubled about every six hours. However, replication of the Covid-19 virus was completely stopped in tissue which had been exposed to rhinovirus. If antiviral defenses were blocked, the SARS-CoV-2 could replicate in airway tissue previously exposed to rhinovirus.

(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT)