| Title | The common cold. | ||
| Author | Van Cauwenberge, P B; van Kempen, M J; Bachert, C | ||
| Journal | Acta Otorhinolaryngol Belg | Publication Year/Month | 2000 |
| PMID | 11082776 | PMCID | -N/A- |
| Affiliation | 1.Dept. of Otorhinolaryngology, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. Paul.Vancauwenberge@rug.ac.be. | ||
Upper respiratory tract infections are one of the most common infectious diseases in man and are mainly caused by rhinoviruses. A rhinoviral cold is characterized by a neutrophilic inflammatory reaction with relatively mild symptoms that rather result from the host inflammatory response to the virus than from a direct viral cytotoxic effect. As regulators of chemotaxis, transmigration and activators of inflammatory and immunocompetent cells, cytokines and mediators were shown to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of a rhinovirus infection.