New Evidence Linking Obesity to A Cold Virus

Could a sneeze carry a virus that makes you fat?In a development stranger than science fiction, researchers have found children exposed to adenovirus-36--one of many viruses that causes the common cold--were more likely to be obese than children who had no evidence of infection, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. In the research, carried out at the University of California, San Deigo and Rady Children's Hopsital-San Diego, obese children were more likely to have antibodes to the virus than normal weight children (22% of obese children had the antibodes compared with 7% of normal weight kids.) In addition, obese kids with evidence of previous adenovirus-36 infections were about 35 pounds heavier on average than obese children who hadn't caught the virus.

This new work bolsters evidence from previous studies in both animals and people showing that adenovirus-36 is associated with obesity. Chickens, mice, rats and monkeys infected with the virus all get fat even though the animals don't eat more or exercise less than they did before they were infected. The virus, one of 55 different typs of adenoviruses, was first isolated in the late 1970s, when obesity rates began to climb. About 30% of obese adults carry antibodies against adenovirus-36, while about 10% of normal-weight people do.

"You can't catch obesity from a fat person," endocrinologist Richard Atkinson told The New Scientist. "It's the skinny person with a cold you have to watch out for."