do you know what type of virus it is? DNA or RNA?
what are its specific host cells?
10 points for the correct answer! it is for a research project...
2007-01-31 15:43:28 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
There is no such thing as "THE" common cold virus. There are a number of viruses that cause "the common cold".
Most common colds are caused from mainly rhinovirus family (RNA) and coronavirus family (RNA).
Rhinoviruses have a specific interaction with eosinophils to active virus specific T cells. Not much is know about coronaviruses because they are not easily grown in a culture.
Rhinoviruses cause an estimated 30 to 35 percent of all adult colds (Not 50% like wikipedia says - see sources). More than 110 distinct rhinovirus types have been identified. Coronaviruses make up approximately 10 to 15 % of all colds.
Not all rhinoviruses and coronaviruses are cold viruses though. SARS is a coronaviruses but I doubt you would call it a "common cold".
On top of that there are more than 200 different viruses are known to cause the symptoms of the common cold. Other cold virus groups are adenoviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, orthomyxoviruses, paramyxoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus and enteroviruses.
And on top of it all, viruses only make up 99.5% of common colds. The bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae makes up about .4% of all common cold cases.
2007-01-31 16:22:59 · answer #1 · answered by Beef 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
2
2016-08-21 23:41:48 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are many viruses that can cause a common cold.
Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold
The following is from the Wikipedia article:
Rhinovirus (from the Greek rhin-, which means "nose") is a genus of the Picornaviridae family of viruses. Rhinoviruses are the most common viral infective agents in humans, and a causative agent of the common cold. There are over 105 serologic virus types that cause cold symptoms, and rhinoviruses are responsible for approximately 50% of all cases.
Rhinoviruses have single-stranded positive sense RNA genomes of between 7.2 and 8.5kb in length. At the 5′ end of the genome is a virus-encoded protein, and like mammalian mRNA, there is a 3′ poly-A tail. Structural proteins are encoded in the 5′ region of the genome and non structural at the end. This is the same for all picornaviruses. The viral particles themselves are not enveloped and are icosahedral in structure.
2007-01-31 15:55:32 · answer #3 · answered by gatorbait 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
A research project? And you come here? How does one cite Yahoo! Answers? Some d00d online told me?
There are many viruses that can cause the symptoms of a cold, some have already been mentioned. Each virus has many subtypes and each subtype has many strains so there is no single cold virus.
2007-01-31 16:32:58 · answer #4 · answered by Nimrod 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
GOOGLE - cold virus
too many sites to post. Start there.
2007-01-31 15:54:49 · answer #5 · answered by None of your F***ing business 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Isn't it always different? that's why there is no real cure for the common cold.
2007-01-31 15:52:05 · answer #6 · answered by infiniteson 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋