Some might not have COVID-19 symptoms because of the common cold, scientists suggest

People might not experience any COVID-19 symptoms because of the common cold, according to one working theory from scientists, ABC News reports.

What’s happening:

• Scientists are working to find out why some people who get the novel coronavirus never experience any symptoms.
• One theory suggests that “prior exposure to other viruses may help fight off the novel coronavirus,” according to ABC News.
• One of those other coronaviruses could be the common cold.

Research on common cold and COVID-19

• Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology published findings in the journal Cell that looked into human responses to COVID-19.
• People who had the virus before had a strong immune response to the virus since it was recognized.
• But 40% to 60% of those who never had COVID-19 also had an immune response.

• Researchers believe it’s possible humans can recognize the coronavirus because they were exposed to “its close cousins — the coronavirus strains that cause the common cold,” ABC News reports.
• A separate study published in Science looked at blood samples. It found that cells reacted to COVID-19 as they would to four other coronaviruses, one of which causes the common cold, Yahoo! News reports.