Scientists have unraveled the genetic code of the common cold â?? all 99 known strains of it, to be exact. In fact, the genetic blueprints showed that you can catch two separate strains of cold at the same time â?? and those strains then can swap their genetic material inside your body to make a whole new strain.
It’s why we’ll never have a vaccine for the common cold, said biochemist Ann Palmenberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, who led the three teams that assembled the family tree of the world’s rhinoviruses.