Rhinovirus
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The rhinovirus (from rhinos "of the nose", and the Latin vīrus) is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold. Rhinovirus infection proliferates in temperatures of 33–35 °C (91–95 °F), the temperatures found in the nose. Rhinoviruses belong to the genus Enterovirus in the family Picornaviridae.
The three species of rhinovirus (A, B, and C) include around 160 recognized types of human rhinovirus that differ according to their surface proteins (serotypes). They are lytic in nature and are among the smallest viruses, with diameters of about 30 nanometers. By comparison, other viruses, such as smallpox and vaccinia, are around ten times larger at about 300 nanometers; while flu viruses are around 80–120 nm.
History
In 1953, when a cluster of nurses developed a mild respiratory illness, Winston Price, from the Johns Hopkins University, took nasal passage samples and isolated the first rhinovirus, which he called the JH virus, named after Johns Hopkins.
