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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

How some viruses give you the sniffles year after year

Mutations in ‘seasonal’ coronaviruses might explain why many people are re-infected time and again.
Colour enhanced transmission electron micrograph of human coronavirus, HCoV-229E

Particles (green, artificially coloured) of the cold-causing coronavirus HCoV-229E, whose genome shows evidence of swift evolution of a key protein. Credit: Science Source/Science Photo Library

At least two coronaviruses that cause the common cold can evolve to escape recognition by the body’s immune system.

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Nature 590, 10 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00214-9

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