Researchers are reporting what could at least be a significant step in curing the common cold. They succeeded in mapping the DNA of more than 100 different cold viruses said on Thursday they discovered a shortcut in their life cycle, which may explain why they can inflict misery so quickly.

Scientists have unraveled the genetic code of the common cold (all 99 known strains of it). But don't expect the feat to lead to a cure for the sniffling any time soon. It turns out that rhinoviruses are even more complicated than researchers originally thought. In fact, the genetic blueprints showed that you can catch two separate strains of cold at the same time; and those strains then can swap their genetic material inside your body to make a whole new strain.

They also believe they may find ways to design drugs to fight the rhinoviruses, which use their single gene to move rapidly from person to person, causing symptoms that range from irritating sniffles to pneumonia.

The work, detailed in the February 13 issue of the journal Science and led by researchers from the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine in Baltimore and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, confirmed some ideas about the nature of the human rhinovirus while providing a few surprises

"We know a lot about the common cold virus," said study co-author Ann Palmenberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "but we didn't know how their genomes encoded all that information. Now we do, and all kinds of new things are falling out."