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A Breakthrough in the Spread of Colds?

Image Credit: R&D Magazine

With all of the amazing medical discoveries in the world, it is still a mystery why we all continue to struggle with the common cold.

Once we get it, it seems like it takes forever to leave our bodies. But, there may have been a breakthrough that could help prevent colds from being spread.

A newly found furrow on the surface of some viruses may be the answer. These could be the trigger to diseases. If they are determined to be the trigger, scientists could work on creating a drug that attacks those furrows and stops the trigger.

Virologists, scientists who study viruses, have been looking at the structure of viruses. They can then test various compounds to see how they react with the viruses. One of the chemicals that they used was preventing an enterovirus from making copies of itself. As a result, it stopped spreading from cell to cell.

With the use of cryo-electron microscopy, they were able to freeze molecules to get a better view of what is going on. By doing this, they saw that the compound seemed to jam an unknown pit in the virus’s shell. This germ was known as a picornavirus. A relative of the family, scientists decided to focus their attention on rhinoviruses. These are the cause of the common cold.

Currently no drugs are available to treat these viruses. But, scientists are hopeful that this new finding can lead to creation of such drugs. The team is working to make the compounds even more effective against viruses, and if their results continue to show the same conclusions, the development of a drug to treat the disease would be the next step in the process.

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