Summer colds: this may explain why so many have suffered them this year

By Fidelma Fitzpatrick, Consultant Microbiologist, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland and Head of Department, Clinical Microbiology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Most of us associate colds and the flu with colder weather. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still catch a cold during the summer. Some viruses are even more common in summer than in the winter.

The flu virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are more common in the winter months, as the colder temperatures and more time spent indoors around other people provide them with favourable conditions to spread.

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