(Health.com) — For people suffering from a cold, the severity of their symptoms may be linked to the mix of bacteria that inhabit their nose.
New research suggests the amount and type of organisms residing in the nose might explain why some people’s symptoms are worse than others — even if they are infected with the same strain of virus.
For the study, researchers analyzed the nasal bacteria of 152 people before and after they were infected with the same cold virus. People whose noses have a lot of Staphylococcus bacteria had more severe nasal symptoms than those with less of this type of bacteria.
The bacteria inside the noses of the participants followed one of six different patterns, which were associated with variations in the severity of their symptoms. The mix of nasal bacteria was also linked with their viral load, or the amount of the virus in their body. (…)