How A Mouse With A Cold Can Save Thousands Of Lives

Researchers have found a new way of giving a mouse a cold - meaning that further tests can be carried out to develop better medicines to treat the common cold virus. It is also hoped that it will allow scientists to understand asthma more effectively

It had been thought that the virus which gives humans and primates colds and asthma could not be transmitted to any other animal meaning research into finding more effective treatments for sniffling noses and coughs have so far been limiting. Yet it would appear that as from this week, all that is set to change. Now a mouse has been given a cold. It has not been possible before but now this will give researchers a better field to work with when finding a cure for the common cold. The study, which has been led by the Imperial College in London has been also published in Nature Medicine. They are called, rhinoviruses, or at least, these are the things which give us a headache, bunged up nose and a cough. They also can trigger asthma attack in sufferers and just about anything else which is connected. Up until now, it has also been us and monkeys which are the only creatures to be effected by the virus, now that it's been found that the virus can be transmitted to other animals such as mice, it means that further work can been carried out to find a possible cure for these ailments which cause employers and the NHS untold amounts of money each year. There are a million ways of treating a cold and a few dozen more for comforting the sufferer until the virus passes, yet when it comes to something more serious such as an asthma attack or even COPD (which is obstructive pulmonary disorder) then we are limited as to what medicines can be used effectively. Other types of COPD are chronic bronchitis and the lung infection, emphysema. So far, in the last fifty years or so, experts have been able to find medicines which ease symptoms of these ailments and but scientists have only had ourselves to test out on, the research has more often than not, failed. Leading the researcher at the College was, Professor Sebastian Johnston. He told BBC News,

"These mouse models should provide a major boost to research efforts to develop new treatments for the common cold, as well as for more potentially fatal illnesses such as acute attacks of asthma and of COPD."

Yet research has had another stumbling block to deal with. Not only have the specimens been us and no other being, there are said to be around 100 different strains of the common cold, making research difficult as one medicine for one cold might not relieve another. Although experts do know that the nearly all of the strains attack the receptor on the face of human cells. So, this tiny fact has actually been the very key as to why it has not been possible before for animals to contract the virus. However, because scientists have been able to "modify" a mouse's cells, thus allowing the virus to attach itself, thus causing the symptoms of a common cold. Mice in the lab were also given asthma-like symptoms which are triggered by an allergic reaction to protein, meaning that they were also susceptible to the same virus which triggers asthma attacks in humans. Current chief executive of the Medical Research Council, who were able to fund the work behind the study said,

"This important and fundamental discovery will enable us to understand the effects rhinoviruses and common colds have on our health. It will open up new paths to finding treatments which have been delayed for many years and provides us with the opportunities for further breakthroughs in the future."

It is good news all round particularly for asthma sufferers, especially in high pollution areas and in a world, where sufferers still have attacks which can be potentially fatal. Leanne Male from the leading UK charity for such conditions, Asthma UK told BBC News,

"Ninety per cent of people with asthma tell us that colds and flu trigger their asthma symptoms but as yet there is no specific treatment for virally induced asthma attacks and steroid treatments are only partially effective against them. We welcome this latest advancement as it will lead to a greater understanding of viral infections and their link with asthma and may help the development of a suitable treatment for virus-induced asthma attacks, thus greatly improving the lives of the 5.2 million people with the condition in the UK."

It's just a shame that mice will be suffering as a result. Yet if this could mean that lives are saved each year, then it has to be called progress...