Common Cold - History

History

While the cause of the common cold has only been identified since the 1950s the disease has been with humanity since antiquity. Its symptoms and treatment are described in the Egyptian Ebers papyrus, the oldest existing medical text, written before the 16th century BCE. The name "common cold" came into use in the 16th century, due to the similarity between its symptoms and those of exposure to cold weather.

In the United Kingdom, the Common Cold Unit was set up by the Medical Research Council in 1946 and it was here that the rhinovirus was discovered in 1956. In the 1970s, the CCU demonstrated that treatment with interferon during the incubation phase of rhinovirus infection protects somewhat against the disease, but no practical treatment could be developed. The unit was closed in 1989, two years after it completed research of zinc gluconate lozenges in the prophylaxis and treatment of rhinovirus colds, the only successful treatment in the history of the unit.