Viruses can also enhance other infections and make people sicker, which has been documented in other studies of influenza and the common cold.
Scientists think infection by the first virus puts your body’s immune system on heightened alert, triggering the secretion of a protein called interferon.When the timing is just right, the interferon response triggered by an initial infection could prevent a second virus from replicating, too“What varies a lot from virus to virus is the magnitude and timing — how much a virus triggers interferon and how fast a virus triggers interferon,” Foxman saidResearchers have known about viral interference since the 1960s, when a Soviet group of scientists noticed that a live vaccine against polio and other enteroviruses also seemed to protect against unrelated viral respiratory diseases like influenza. Foxman’s research suggests that a recent common cold infection — from rhinoviruses — could stop replication of the virus that causes Covid-19Rhinoviruses, which circulate widely, are relatively benign for most people and prompt a near-immediate interferon response, Foxman said.
Foxman said no one should seek a cold infection to avoid CovidBut the side effects ended up being about as bad as the cold itself, Foxman said, noting that the innate immune system is a “double-edged sword” if it’s overstimulated. As those restrictions are loosened and the omicron variant spreads rapidly, the probability that someone will be infected with the virus that causes Covid and another virus at the same time is expected to increase, which makes it an interesting time for research. “In normal life, there’s quite a bit of respiratory virus circulationI would expect we’re going to be seeing that soon,” Foxman said, adding that it’s a unique time to study viral interference
Foxman’s hypothesis is that as society opens up, the viral interference phenomenon could keep some of those simmering viruses from boiling up all at once.