The New Scientist reports that the common cold may have reduced the infection rates of Swine Flu in Europe this autumn accounting for the lower infection rates than the USA (Full story here) :
In France, flu cases rose in early September, then stayed at about 160 per 100,000 people until late October, when numbers started rising again. The delayed rise was puzzling, says Jean-Sebastien Casalegno of the French national flu lab at the University of Lyon.
He reports that the percentage of throat swabs from French respiratory illnesses that tested positive for swine flu fell in September, while at the same time rhinovirus, which causes colds, rose (Eurosurveillance, vol 14, p 19390). He told New Scientist that in late October, rhinovirus fell – at the same time as flu rose. He suspects rhinovirus may have blocked the spread of swine flu via a process called viral interference.
This is thought to occur when one virus blocks another. “We think that when you get one infection, it turns on your antiviral defences, and excludes the other viruses,” says Ab Osterhaus at the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
How important such interference is in viral epidemics is unclear, however: there are also cases in which there is no interference, and people catch two viruses at the same time. Normally, we don’t get a chance to see how rhinovirus affects flu, as flu epidemics usually strike in winter, whereas rhinovirus hits when schools start (late summer in the northern hemisphere)
It appears the common cold is not so common after all but quite a clever virus. It can outwit the deadly swine flu.
[...] Common Cold Appears To Ward Off Swine Flu [...]
My brother got infected with H1N1 or Swine Flu in Mexico. He got a mild fever and luckily he did not die.