Science moves one step closer to finding an effective treatment for the common cold, as University of Maryland researchers have managed to map the genetic codes for all strains of the virus that causes the common cold.

Common symptoms of cold include sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing, sometimes these symptoms may be accompanied by ‘pink eye’, muscle aches, headaches, fatigue and muscle weakness. Patients with common colds may miss school or workdays. Symptoms may be more severe in infants and old people.

According to the new study, published in the journal Science, by mapping the genome of the common cold and assembling the results into a “family tree,” scientists can have a clearer image on how the virus strains are related. The study found that human rhinoviruses, which are responsible for common flu, are organized in 15 small groups. Rhinoviruses cause about half of all colds. These viruses can swap genetic material. In other words, two cold strain responsible for infecting one person may recombine and form a new strain that has new properties. This situation makes the mission of scientists of finding a vaccine that would be effective despite all these changes a difficult and almost impossible one.

But researchers found that some of these strains are closely matched in certain regions of the genome and therefore therapies could target specifically these regions.

The research was based on the analysis of more than 99 known strains that had been collected from noses and stored, frozen, in a virus laboratory. In addition, the researchers examined fresh samples collected from the field. This analysis allowed the team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to find the connections between all these strains and to create a family tree of sorts. The analysis shows that some regions of the rhinovirus genome are changing all the time but that others never change. Different strains of the virus may require different drugs, the researchers explained.

Human rhinoviruses are also responsible for half of all asthma attacks and play an important role in bronchitis, middle ear infections and pneumonia.

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

The researchers suggest that drug companies should work on developing effective treatments that would either halt or prevent the cold virus in its incipient form, before it begins to spread.

The research is detailed in the Feb. 13 issue of the journal Science.