ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601100109
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: MARTHA SLUD ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this cold war, Dr. Jack Gwaltney is a soldier battling on the front lines.
Gwaltney heads the Common Cold Research Group at the University of Virginia Medical Center. While the scientific community has virtually abandoned the notion of finding a cure for the common cold, the nationally known cold specialist says some treatments on the horizon may at least stop the sniffles, sore throat and cough that accompany the virus.
Many virologists these days hunt for cures for the AIDS virus and other killer diseases, but Gwaltney says his 32 years researching the more mundane cold viruses has been a thrill.
``It's been really fun,'' said Gwaltney, a 64-year-old grandfather. ``It's like anything - the more you know about it, the more interesting it becomes.''
Gwaltney, a Norfolk native, got interested in colds while serving in the late 1950s as an Army doctor at Fort Dix, N.J. He noticed that many soldiers got infections that disrupted training. After he got out of the Army, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Virginia, to work on cold research.
Gwaltney, now a professor of internal medicine and head of the school's division of epidemiology and virology, has conducted a variety of experiments over the years on college students, local insurance agents, families and others willing to have their sniffles analyzed.
Some of the experiments are a little unpleasant. One involves collecting used tissues and weighing them to determine the amount of nasal drip. The idea is to determine the effectiveness of certain cold-fighting drugs.
About six or eight researchers work on the cold team at any one time, Gwaltney said. One of the main things they've learned is how colds are transmitted. Years ago, the cold team found that people usually catch colds through hand-to-hand contact. Once the virus gets on people's hands, they often touch their eyes or nose and transmit the virus, he said.
When Gwaltney graduated from medical school in 1956, scientists still believed they could develop a vaccine for the common cold. But researchers later discovered there are many varieties of the cold virus. There's little chance one vaccine could cure them all, Gwaltney says.
So instead, his cold team is working on new ways to treat the virus early.
Fighting a cold is like getting water out of a row boat that has a hole in the bottom, he explained. That means you must plug the boat (take drugs that stop the virus from growing) and bale the water (block the inflammatory pathways that cause the symptoms).Fighting a cold is like getting water out of a rowboat that has a hole in the bottom, he explained. That means you must plug the boat (block the inflammatory pathways that cause the symptoms) and bale the water (take drugs that stop the virus from growing).
To do both of these things, the cold team is working on new combinations of drugs that have not been used before, he said.
``These things you buy over the counter are not ineffective,'' he said. ``They're just not stopping the virus that's driving the system.''
Much of the research is funded by pharmaceutical companies. Within 10 years, many of these new treatments may be on the market, Gwaltney said.
Gwaltney often hears from people who have cold ``cures.'' Even University of Virginia founder Thomas Jefferson had a cold-fighting theory. In an 1819 letter to a doctor, Jefferson bragged that for 60 years he staved off the virus by bathing his feet in cold water every morning.
Jefferson was a brilliant man, ``but he probably wasn't right on that one,'' Gwaltney laughed.
To prevent a cold, Gwaltney suggests staying away from people with the virus. If that's not possible, wash your hands at appropriate times and keep your fingers away from your eyes and nose.
But even he isn't immune, especially now that his daughter and her family live in Charlottesville.
``Now that my grandchildren are here, I get a lot of colds,'' he said. ``Even though I know they're dangerous, I can't help but pick them up and kiss them.''
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Dr. Jack Gwaltney, head of the Common Cold Researchby CNBGroup at the University of Virginia Medical Center, looks over data
with Dr. Birgit Winther. color.