Why are fevers, colds and flu, and even respiratory illnesses like Covid-19, more likely to strike in winter? Although the pathogen will cause different symptoms, or even cause an epidemic throughout the year? Northeastern University in Boston and Harvard Medical School recently published a new study in the professional journal “Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology”.
Young Asian woman feeling sick, suffering from sore throat, feeling sore and hurt, staying at home and resting on the bedVision of Asia
The colder the weather, the easier it is to get sick?
The seasonal nature of these respiratory diseases has become key to the pathogenesis, according to research findings, perhaps the cold air itself disrupts the immune response, which means that the nasal mucosa is damaged. “This is the first time we’ve done a biological study of a factor in the innate immune responsein humans, and the immune response is indeed affected,” said Zara Patel, a rhinologist and professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University. the effect of cooler temperatures.”
Research has shown that as long as the temperature in the nose is lowered by 5 degrees Celsius, almost 50% of the billions of cells in the nostrils that fight viruses and bacteria will be eliminated. Defenses on the front line are weakened, so enemies can move deeper into the organism more easily. Rhinologist Benjamin Blair, chief of otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital and associate professor at the University of California, added, “cold air is associated with more viral infections, and the body basically loses half of its immunity to a very small drop in temperature.”
These studies use in vitro tests, although using human tissue rather than real people. Having said that, why do defenses go down in the cold? Experts are trying to recreate the dynamics of what happens when a virus or bacteria enters our nose, our first known point of entry into the body after years of COVID.
MODEL RELEASED. Young woman with smoke, yawning.IAN HOOTON/SCIENCE PICTURE LIBRARY
intranasal battle
As found in another 2018 study looking specifically at bacterial infections, the tip of the nose detects bacteria immediately on first contact or inhalation of air, rather than when the bacteria have penetrated deep into the nose. Not only that, but the cells lining the nasal mucosa immediately start producing billions of copies in a simpler key called extracellular vesicles, or EVs, small reservoirs of antimicrobial proteins. It is as if they are small cells specifically designed to attack pathogens and at the same time set a trap for the enemy, and once their job is done, they are carried by the cells through the nasal mucus, which is then expelled from the body.
