How to Avoid Catching a Cold

Sorry; there is still no cure for the common cold. But medical research has shed some light on how the common cold is spread. After reading this, you may never think of shaking hands in the same way again.

For centuries, colds were thought to be caused by mean winds. It wasn't until World War I that modern scientists began to question the notion of whether chills cause colds. Researchers have since spent 80 years and traveled as far as the North Pole in search of answers. And despite the mounds of scientific evidence they have gathered, folk prescriptions still predominate.

The Myths

Your mother may not like it, but her advice was probably wrong: Here are some of the myths researchers have exposed:

1) Being chilled to the bone will make you catch a cold: Although going out without a hat in the middle of winter may be stupid, it won't make you any more likely to catch a cold. Large-scale experiments were conducted in England and Chicago during the 1950s and 1960s in which people were made to stand around practically naked and wet in a chilly room. After they were thoroughly miserable, the subjects were nasally injected with cold virus. Control groups kept nice and toasty were also injected. Guess what? About the same number of each group caught colds.

2) Cold viruses are more active during the winter months: In fact, although the cold season runs from September through April, cold viruses are active year-round. The reason people catch colds more readily during the winter is because they spend more time indoors with other people who are infected.

3) You can develop immunity to colds: The common cold is caused by a number of virus families (principally rhinovirus) that comprise over 200 individual viruses. While you can develop temporary immunity to certain cold viruses after suffering through them, it is impossible to develop immunity to them all.

4) Colds can be prevented or treated with antibiotics: Antibiotics only work on bacteria, not viruses. Overprescription of antibiotics has become a serious health concern.

5) Massive doses of vitamin C will stave off a cold: Few medical theories have been subject to more scrutiny than Linus Pauling's famous 1971 claim that vitamin C was a preventive for the common cold. Thirty years and hundreds of clinical studies later, the evidence suggests vitamin C, even in massive doses of up to 3,000 milligrams a day, does nothing to prevent a cold. Some clinical trials have shown the symptoms of a cold can be lessened by taking large doses of vitamin C after you feel a cold coming on, though researchers disagree about this. Sorry, Linus.

6) Zinc will prevent a cold and lessen its symptoms: Nope, afraid not, although zinc tablets do make everything you eat taste like pocket change.

7) You can catch a cold by kissing: Research has shown that exchanging spit with a cold sufferer won't infect you unless you manage to somehow get it up your nose.

Colds are spread primarily through the air: Extensive clinical tests by Jack M. Gwaltney, M.D. (a.k.a. "Dr. Cold.") and his colleagues at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville have proven conclusively that virus is spread primarily through direct contact with the hands. Although it is possible to be infected through coughs and sneezes, the main method of cold transmission is filthy paws.