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> Except for chimpanzees, animals do not catch human colds. Cats get dreadful colds, and some from rhinoviruses—"but cat rhinoviruses, not human ones." > Chilling has little if anything to do with a person's developing a cold. Presumably resistance to the virus is a factor, but how it works is not known. > Some colds are not catching at all, and no one knows how they get started. Others are most catching in the early stages (almost the only item of folklore confirmed by scientific research). They are spread by sneezing and coughing, though a handkerchief promptly and properly used will check the spread. A wet handkerchief pulled from the pocket with an energetic flourish spreads virus particles generously. After it has dried, the handkerchief becomes virtually noninfectious.
No preventive or cure is in sight, despite a great deal of work and even more folklore. As people grow older they naturally tend to have fewer colds —and therefore, says Andrewes, they tend to find "proof" that their own pet precautions really work. Useful vaccines may eventually be developed, but the difficulty is that there are too many cold viruses to put them all in one vaccine. What is needed is something like the influenza vaccine, a combination of the strains known to be prevalent at a given place and time. For the present, even that type cold vaccine is beyond the skill of the virologists.
As for remedies, says Sir Christopher, one can only face the fact that they are merely "treatments to make you feel better while you are getting better."