• Posted January 21, 2026

Your Nose May Decide How Bad Your Cold Gets, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 21, 2026 (HealthDay News)  — Why does a cold virus knock some people flat while others barely feel it?

A new study suggests the answer may come down to what happens inside your snoot.

Researchers found that how cells in the nasal passages respond to rhinovirus, the most common cause of a cold, helps decide whether a person develops symptoms and how severe those symptoms become. 

The findings were published Jan. 19 in the journal Cell Press Blue.

“This study offers a more detailed picture of what’s going on during common cold infections than we ever had,” senior author Dr. Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, told The Wall Street Journal.

Rhinoviruses spread more often during winter months, but not everyone exposed to them gets sick. In fact, only about half of infections lead to symptoms, Foxman said.

To understand why, researchers grew human nasal tissue in a lab and exposed it to rhinovirus. This allowed them to study cellular and molecular changes in the nose and lung lining.

They reported two different responses:

In one scenario, the response was quick. Fewer than 1% of cells became infected because the immune system released interferons, proteins that blocked viruses from entering cells and spreading. 

When this response happened fast, the virus was stopped before it could cause sickness.

But when interferons were delayed or disrupted, the virus spread more easily. In these cases, 30% or more of cells became infected, triggering inflammation and excess mucus, the classic cold symptoms.

That’s when people actually feel sick.

“What tips the scale toward one or the other response is not completely understood,” Foxman said. 

However, the study did identify factors linked to better or worse outcomes.

For instance, folks who recently had another viral infection may already have an active interferon response, making it easier to fight off a new virus quickly.

Temperature also appears to matter. Cooler air in the nose and lungs may slow interferon production, giving viruses more time to spread, which could help explain why colds are more common in winter months.

The environment also played a role.

“Inhaling pollution or cigarette smoke really changes the immune response to the next thing you’re exposed to, like a common cold virus, and that usually means a more detrimental inflammatory response,” Foxman explained.

While the study doesn’t offer a clear way to prevent colds, it helps explain why it can affect people so differently.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more on the common cold.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 19, 2026