There is no “supercold” doing the rounds, a leading infectious disease expert has said.
Many people have been complaining of a cold far worse than normal over the past month or two.
But Professor Neil Mabbott from Edinburgh University said people are feeling worse because Covid mitigations have led to waning immunity in other common diseases.
Prof Mabbot said: “It’s the buzzword that’s going around but I don’t think we have any evidence there is a supercold or superflu going around.
“Essentially, it’s the way our bodies are responding to the circulating cold.
“It will be working on multiple levels, one of which is that we’ve had so little exposure that immunity we build up will have waned.
“We’ve also forgotten what it’s like to have a cold. It’s a shock.”
A University College London study found recent exposure to the cold could provide some protection against Covid by helping the body eliminate the virus before it replicates.
Prof Mabbott said: “This information could be used to design new vaccines to provide cross-protection.”
