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Page: "Cold" as a Misnomer
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Originally, the term "cold" may have referred to a "cold condition" such as the hot, cold, dry, and wet "conditions" described by the ancient Anatolian physician Galen, but the climate is only an enabler and not the cause. Colds are somewhat more common in winter, and cold climate may affect transmission by causing people to stay indoors where ventilation is reduced and proximity to infected persons is increased, but the cause of the infection remains viral. Some allergies, bacterial respiratory infections, and even climate changes can also cause common-cold-like symptoms that can last for days.
Infection with a cold virus affects thermogenesis. This makes people associate post-infection shivering with situations in which they were exposed to cold that intensifies shivering (e.g. wet hair, draft, long wait on a bus stop, etc.). This association helps propagate the myth.
If cold weather were directly linked to the spread of the common cold, then it could possibly be demonstrated by comparing the infection rates of people who live in colder climates (such as Iceland or Greenland) with people who live in warmer climates (such as countries close to the equator). Studies done in the 1960s found no significant increase in infection rates in people who live in colder climates.
It is not known conclusively whether cold weather or a humid climate can affect transmission by other means, such as by affecting the immune system, or ICAM-1 receptor concentration, or simply increasing the amount and frequency of nasal secretions and frequency of hand to face contact. A person can best avoid colds by avoiding those who are ill and the objects that they touch, as well as by keeping their immune system in top form by getting enough sleep, reducing stress, eating nutritious foods, and avoiding excess alcohol consumption.
In a widely-publicized experiment, researchers at the Common Cold Centre at the Cardiff University attempted to demonstrate that cold temperatures can lead to a greater susceptibility to viral infection. In the experiment, 29% of a group of 90 people who sat with their feet in ice-cold water for 20 minutes a day for five days developed cold symptoms during the five days, while 9% of a control group of 90 people who were not similarly exposed developed symptoms. But there's a flaw in the Cardiff study, says the University of Virginia's Dr. Ronald Turner: The researchers didn't check to see if a virus was ever present. "They measured symptoms," says Turner, a pediatrician who investigates the effectiveness of cold remedies, like echinacea. "They didn't do any virology, so that study has nothing to do with becoming infected," he says.
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