LONDON, April 23 (UPI) -- Researchers in Britain say they have found that the common cold virus that causes bronchiolitis in children is elusive in that it can hit and hide.
It was previously thought the respiratory syncytial virus could only survive in the body for a few days.
But new studies show the virus can survive for many months or years, perhaps causing long-term effects on health, such as damage to the lungs.
The research, published in this month's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, was a joint project between Imperial College London, St Mary's Hospital, London, and the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany.
"These studies show that RSV is a 'hit and hide' virus, rather like HIV, herpes or some hepatitis viruses. The symptoms seem to go away but the virus is just hiding, waiting for a chance to re-emerge and begin infecting other people," said Prof. Peter Openshaw with the Imperial College and one of paper's authors.
The experiment was conducted on mice infected with the human RSV.
