{"id":869832,"date":"2025-09-02T01:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T06:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/why-kids-with-more-colds-are-less-likely-to-get-covid\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T01:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T06:12:00","slug":"why-kids-with-more-colds-are-less-likely-to-get-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/why-kids-with-more-colds-are-less-likely-to-get-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Kids With More Colds Are Less Likely to Get COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Girl<\/a>
Catching a cold may briefly shield the body from COVID, helping explain children\u2019s resilience. Credit: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers have uncovered that a recent cold might actually help protect against COVID-19<\/div>\n

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, first identified in late 2019. It led to a global pandemic, disrupting economies, healthcare systems, and daily life worldwide. Transmission occurs primarily through respiratory droplets and aerosols, and symptoms range from mild to severe.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>COVID-19<\/span>, especially in children.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By triggering the body\u2019s natural antiviral defenses, rhinoviruses appear to \u201cprime\u201d the immune system to fight off SARS-CoV-2<\/div>\n

SARS-CoV-2 is the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. It primarily spreads through respiratory droplets and has infected hundreds of millions worldwide. The virus has undergone multiple mutations, resulting in variants with differing transmission and immune escape characteristics.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>SARS-CoV-2<\/span> before it takes hold.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cold Viruses May Protect Against COVID<\/h4>\n

A recent study from researchers at National Jewish Health suggests that catching a common cold (most often caused by rhinoviruses) might provide short-term protection against SARS-CoV-2, the virus<\/div>\n

A virus is a microscopic infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Structurally, viruses consist of genetic material\u2014either DNA or RNA\u2014enclosed in a protective protein coat called a capsid, and sometimes a lipid envelope. They are uniquely distinguished by their simple, acellular organization and mode of reproduction, which involves hijacking the host cell's machinery to produce new virus particles. This process often results in disease in the host organism. Viruses are responsible for a wide range of diseases, including the common cold, influenza, HIV\/AIDS, and COVID-19. Despite their pathogenic nature, viruses also play roles in ecological and evolutionary processes, influencing gene transfer and genetic diversity.<\/div>\n

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>virus<\/span> responsible for COVID-19. The findings offer new clues about why children typically show fewer symptoms than adults and may also open doors to new ways of easing the impact of respiratory infections.<\/p>\n

The work, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases<\/em>, used data from the Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study. This national project followed more than 4,100 individuals across 1,394 households between May 2020 and February 2021.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Immune Systems Offer Clues<\/h4>\n

The researchers discovered that people, especially children who had recently been infected with rhinoviruses, were less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the weeks that followed. The reason appears to be the body\u2019s antiviral defenses. Rhinoviruses trigger a strong interferon response in the airways, which helps prepare the immune system to fend off other viral threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur findings suggest that the immune boost from a recent cold may give the body an early advantage in fighting SARS-CoV-2 before it has a chance to take hold,\u201d said senior author of the study Max Seibold, PhD, a researcher and Director of the Regenerative Medicine and Genome Editing Program (REGEN) at National Jewish Health. \u201cThis may help explain why children, who tend to get more colds than adults, generally experience fewer and less severe COVID cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gene Activity Differences Between Kids and Adults<\/h4>\n

Using thousands of self-collected nasal swabs, the team tested for both SARS-CoV-2 and other common respiratory viruses, including rhinovirus, in participants of all ages. They also analyzed airway gene expression to see how recent viral infections influenced the body\u2019s antiviral defenses. Children were found to have higher baseline expression of interferon-related genes \u2014 proteins that act as the immune system\u2019s first line of defense against viruses \u2014 compared to adults.<\/p>\n

While this phenomenon, known as heterologous viral interference, has been observed with other respiratory viruses, this is the first prospective study to show it may also occur with SARS-CoV-2.<\/p>\n

Not a Reason to Catch a Cold on Purpose<\/h4>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean people should intentionally try to catch a cold,\u201d said Camille Moore, PhD and lead author of the study at National Jewish Health. \u201cBut understanding how one virus can affect the body\u2019s response to another could help us develop new prevention strategies, especially for vulnerable populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research builds on earlier findings from the HEROS study showing that children are six times less likely than adults to develop symptomatic COVID. The new data highlights the role that both age-related immune differences and recent viral exposures may play in that protection.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cThe Common Cold Is Associated With Protection From SARS-CoV-2 Infections\u201d by Camille M Moore, Elizabeth A Secor, Jamie L Everman, Ana Fairbanks-Mahnke, Nathan Jackson, Elmar Pruesse, Katrina Diener, Andrew Morin, Samuel J Arbes, Leonard B Bacharier, Casper G Bendixsen, Agustin Calatroni, William D Dupont, Glenn T Furuta, Tebeb Gebretsadik, Rebecca S Gruchalla, Ruchi S Gupta, Gurjit K Khurana Hershey, Meyer Kattan, Andrew H Liu, Stephanie J Lussier, Liza Bronner Murrison, Mari Numata, George T O\u2019Connor, Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric, Wanda Phipatanakul, Marc E Rothenberg, Christine M Seroogy, Edward M Zoratti, Sharon Castina, Daniel J Jackson, Carlos A Camargo, Christine C Johnson, Rachel Ethridge, Sima Ramratnam, Lia Stelzig, Stephen J Teach, Alkis G Togias, Patricia C Fulkerson, Tina V Hartert, Max A Seibold and on behalf of the HEROS study team, 11 August 2025, The Journal of Infectious Diseases<\/i>.
\nDOI: 10.1093\/infdis\/jiaf374<\/a><\/p>\n

National Jewish Health researchers conducted the study in collaboration with partners from 12 cities across the United States.<\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t\t National Jewish Health
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catching a cold may briefly shield the body from COVID, helping explain children\u2019s resilience. Credit: Shutterstock Researchers have uncovered that a recent cold might actually help protect against COVID-19, especially in children. By triggering the body\u2019s natural antiviral defenses, rhinoviruses appear to \u201cprime\u201d the immune system to fight off SARS-CoV-2 before it takes hold. Cold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":869833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114501,2136],"tags":[146022,5045],"class_list":["post-869832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colds","category-likely","tag-colds","tag-likely"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}