# COVID-19 (new Coronavirus) and the common cold. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697 "2020-02-29T11:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/1 "2020-02-29T11:32:29Z")
As I understand it, COVID-19 belongs to the same family of viruses as the common cold. Every year we get new flu vaccines, but because the flu mutates so fast the vaccines are based on what the experts _think_ the flu will look like by the time the vaccine’s ready. Sometimes, those predictions are very good, and the vaccine provides good protection. Other times, those predictions are wrong and you end up with a flu vaccine that doesn’t provide much protection. _However,_ even a bad flu vaccine is better than no flu vaccine. Because the vaccine primes your immune system to fight one type of flu, if you get another type of flu that looks similar, your body can respond to it quicker. Is the same principle true with the new Coronavirus? If you’ve had a bad cold caused by a virus from the same family as COVID-19, would that in any way prepare you for COVID-19 itself? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/2 "2020-02-29T12:12:53Z")
> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > As I understand it, COVID-19 belongs to the same family of viruses as the common cold. Let’s start with this. No, its not. > **[Orthomyxoviridae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomyxoviridae)** > > Orthomyxoviridae (from Greek ὀρθός, orthós 'straight' + μύξα, mýxa 'mucus') is a family of negative-sense RNA viruses. It includes seven genera: Alphainfluenzavirus, Betainfluenzavirus, Gammainfluenzavirus, Deltainfluenzavirus, Isavirus, Thogotovirus, and Quaranjavirus. The first four genera contain viruses that cause influenza in birds (see also avian influenza) and mammals, including humans. Isaviruses infect salmon; the thogotoviruses are arboviruses, infecting vertebrates and invertebrate Th... > **[Rhinovirus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinovirus)** > > The rhinovirus (from the Ancient Greek: ῥίς, romanized: rhis "nose", .mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}gen ῥινός, romanized: rhinos "of the nose", and the Latin: vīrus) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the genus Enterovirus in the family Picornaviridae. Rhinovirus is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold. > The three species of rhinovir... > **[SARS-CoV-2 | Virology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2#Virology)** > > Each SARS-CoV-2 virion is 60–140 nanometres (2.4×10−6–5.5×10−6 in) in diameter; its mass within the global human populace has been estimated as being between 0.1 and 10 kilograms. Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 has four structural proteins, known as the S (spike), E (envelope), M (membrane), and N (nucleocapsid) proteins; the N protein holds the RNA genome, and the S, E, and M proteins together create the viral envelope. Coronavirus S proteins are glycoproteins and also t Starting with these wikipedia pages, you can see that the viruses are taxonomically distinct. They’ve been grouped each into a different phylum. That makes them as distinct from each other as animals, plants and fungus. That actually threw me, I wasn’t expecting that much. But the viruses are very different from each other in structure. When they attack human upper respiratory passages, and damage tissue there, pretty much the first response of the human respiratory system is to increase fluid, and try to cough that excess fluid out, but that’s not so much an immune response, as it is the task of a closed box of sticky fluid trying to empty itself. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/3 "2020-02-29T12:18:59Z")
> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > As I understand it, COVID-19 belongs to the same family of viruses as the common cold. Incorrect. “the common cold” is actually caused by _several_ families of virus, only one of which is family _coronaviridae_, which is comprised of several genera and species of virus. The majority of viruses that cause “the common cold” are in the order _picornaviridae_, more specifically in the genre Enterovirus the three species of rhinoviruses, which come in over 150 different serotypes which is how they keep dodging your immune system. Other families of viruses also cause “the common cold” which is, as you might have surmised by this time, not one disease but many all with very similar symptoms. A couple hundred or more species of virus can cause the common cold. > [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > Is the same principle true with the new Coronavirus? If you’ve had a bad cold caused by a virus from the same family as COVID-19, would that in any way prepare you for COVID-19 itself? Apparently not - but it’s far too early in this outbreak to be absolutely certain of that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/4 "2020-02-29T12:21:49Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > They’ve been grouped each into a different phylum. That makes them as distinct from each other as animals, plants and fungus. Ok, that in no way makes sense. Sorry, my morning coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. And I’d strikethrough if I could. But that never works for me here on the SDMB, even if I make the edit window, Examples of different phyla would be earthworms(Annelida) vs insects(Arthropoda) vs mammals(Vertebrate a sub-phylum of chordata.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/5 "2020-02-29T12:30:02Z")
To very much simplify this: Covid-19 and the very much more common cold-causing rhinoviruses are in different orders. People are in the Order Primates. Horses/zebras/donkeys are in the order Perissodactyla. So the covid-19 virus and the rhinovirus are _at least as different_ as people and horses are different from each other. Just to further elaborate, within the order Perissodactyla you not only have horses/zebras/donkeys but ALSO hippos and tapirs… so Covid-19 is _at least as different_ from rhinoviruses as people are from not just horses but also hippoes and tapirs. There are something like a half dozen different ORDERS of viruses causing “the common cold” and also “influenza like illness” (including, yes, actual influenza viruses). Which together are a grouping as large and diverse as something like “mammal”. Again - very much simplified because I don’t have the time this morning to get more elaborate. Also, meant to serve as an introduction to those new to all this. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/6 "2020-02-29T20:30:24Z")
> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#): > > .Every year we get new flu vaccines, but because the flu mutates so fast the vaccines are based on what the experts _think_ the flu will look like by the time the vaccine’s ready. Sometimes, those predictions are very good, and the vaccine provides good protection. Other times, those predictions are wrong and you end up with a flu vaccine that doesn’t provide much protection. > > _However,_ even a bad flu vaccine is better than no flu vaccine. Because the vaccine primes your immune system to fight one type of flu, if you get another type of flu that looks similar, your body can respond to it quicker. Every year the new flu vaccine is a mixture containing vaccines to a number of recent flu viruses that experts think might be common in the new year. Even a flu vaccine that doesn’t include what turns out to be the most common or most dangerous flu of the new season still includes vaccines for the other recent strains, and provides protection against them. A bad flu vaccine is worse than no vaccination, because it stimulates the immune system the same way that a flu virus does. A bad flu vaccine can make you very sick, the way the flu virus does. Even if it does provide good protection, and particularly if it doesn’t provide good protection, or if it turns out that there just isn’t very much flu around that year, a bad flu vaccine is just a bad vaccine. And generally, no :). Either flu viruses are similar enough so that they are “the same”, or they aren’t. You don’t respond quicker to different flu viruses. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/7 "2020-02-29T21:56:33Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > A bad flu vaccine is worse than no vaccination, because it stimulates the immune system the same way that a flu virus does. A bad flu vaccine can make you very sick, the way the flu virus does. Even if it does provide good protection, and particularly if it doesn’t provide good protection, or if it turns out that there just isn’t very much flu around that year, a bad flu vaccine is just a bad vaccine. False. [You can’t get flu from a flu shot.](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/8 "2020-02-29T22:55:38Z")
I just listened to a “The Daily” podcast that said small children were unlikely to contract this virus because they were exposed to so many cold viruses in school. > **[The Coronavirus Goes Global (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html)** > > The illness is on every continent except Antarctica, with more new cases now being reported outside China than within. But how threatening is the outbreak, really? ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/9 "2020-03-01T00:30:55Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I just listened to a “The Daily” podcast that said small children were unlikely to contract this virus because they were exposed to so many cold viruses in school. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html) Apart from being medically just seriously wrong, it doesn’t make sense. By this logic adults should not be susceptible because they also caught all manner of crap when they were kids (with due acknowledgement of Melbourne’s point about antigenic drift and mutation within viruses). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/10 "2020-03-01T03:07:18Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > False. [You can’t get flu from a flu shot.](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm) I didn’t say that you could get flu from a flu shot. But it’s hard to complain about you not reading my posting before replying to it, when you obviously didn’t understand the reference you were posting: " (i.e., flu shots) are currently made in two ways … in order to produce an immune response" ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/11 "2020-03-01T22:14:37Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I didn’t say that you could get flu from a flu shot. But it’s hard to complain about you not reading my posting before replying to it, when you obviously didn’t understand the reference you were posting: > > " (i.e., flu shots) are currently made in two ways … in order to produce an immune response" I see nothing in either what you’ve posted or in my cite that supports your flat-out assertion, “A bad flu vaccine is worse than no vaccination, because it stimulates the immune system the same way that a flu virus does. A bad flu vaccine can make you very sick, the way the flu virus does. Even if it does provide good protection, and particularly if it doesn’t provide good protection, or if it turns out that there just isn’t very much flu around that year, a bad flu vaccine is just a bad vaccine.” Since you believe my reading comprehension is poor, perhaps you should post your response in simple sentences, with one syllable words, and include links so I can ask the more intelligent members of my household to explain them to me. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/12 "2020-03-01T22:32:21Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I just listened to a “The Daily” podcast that said small children were unlikely to contract this virus because they were exposed to so many cold viruses in school. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html) I think people are talking out of their asses when they speak with any degree of certainty on this virus. There’s too much we don’t know about it to be saying that kind of malarkey. It just immediately rings the bullshit siren. For one thing, children’s immune systems are very much in development until they mature. They get sick more because their body doesn’t have the same antibodies adults do. It’s not clear yet why children aren’t getting as sick, but it may have to do with the fact that children are less likely to have the comorbidity issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other age-related illnesses, which seem to be particularly lethal in the cases that we’ve seen coming out of China. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-new-coronavirus-and-the-common-cold/848697/13 "2020-03-01T23:57:31Z")
Or it could be that this is an illness that tends to be less severe in children. It’s not unknown. Chickenpox, for example, is usually not a big deal for young children (although miserably itching) but extremely serious for adults, and the older you are when you catch the more serious it is likely to be. It’s yet another thing we don’t know for sure about covid.