It was in 1956 that rhinovirus was discovered and the cause of common cold was identified. This revolutionary finding was made by a team of researchers at the Common Cold Unit in the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom. Common cold, however, has been there since time immemorial. Its symptoms and treatment are described in the oldest existing medical text Ebers Papyrus, a manuscript written in Egyptian which has been there since 1600 BC. The name ‘cold’ came into use in the 16th century, due to the similarity between its symptoms and those of exposure to cold weather. There are also theories relating to common cold dating back to stone age, but due to lack of knowledge nothing specific can be said about it. It’s impossible to tell how long humans have been battling cold as scientists can’t pinpoint when rhinoviruses evolved. They mutate too quickly and don’t leave a footprint behind in preserved human fossils. They could have been there even before our species appeared. Or they might have sprung up as small groups of humans moved out of isolation and into agricultural communities, where the pathogen became highly adapted to infecting them.
Attempts at finding a cure have been going on since the ancient times. In 400 BC, Greek physician Hippocrates noted that bleeding was a frequently used treatment for colds but he also added that it was a ‘worthless’ procedure. Amusingly, in the first century AD, Roman philosopher Pliny recommended cold sufferers to ‘kiss the hairy muzzle of a mouse’.
It took the world by storm when a three-year -old accidentally discovered the miraculous effects of zinc gluconate tablets in curing her cold in 1979. Studies were conducted and use of lozenges containing zinc gluconate or other zinc compounds was patented in a series starting in 1985 with the ‘Cure for Common Cold’ patent being issued in 1995. Researchers have studied the use of zinc as a way to treat or reduce symptoms of the cold virus. Still, the data from years of scientific studies are mixed. In other studies, researchers found no differences in cold symptoms between those who took zinc and those who took a placebo or sugar pill. In 2009, the Food and Drugs Administration in the UK had warned people to stop using zinc-containing nasal sprays to fight cold because these sprays had been linked to several cases of loss of smell.
In 1970, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling came out with his book Vitamin C and the Common Cold that popularised the idea of taking high doses of Vitamin C to ward off colds. But when put to the test, this cold remedy doesn’t actually work. If you take at least 0.2 grams of Vitamin C every day, you’re not likely to have any fewer bouts of cold, but you may have cold that is a day or two shorter.