TeachableMedicalNews article 10012019

Teachable moment in classrooms:

  1. immune system chapter – concept of antigen-based recognition of specific invaders
  2. immune system chapter – antigen-specific activation of the T-cell and B-cells

The news item:  Recently there was a report on a commercially available tissue paper from the company Vaev.

A Mysterious Company Claims to Sell Sneeze-Filled Tissues for $80. Is It Real?

Vaev Tissue sells a used tissue that a sick person has sneezed into, claiming that it boosts your immune system. Health experts disagree.

The tissue paper has a special property: it is used by another person who has the “cold”. The company claims that “a human sneeze is safer than needles or pills” and when flu season comes around you should be able to get sick on your own terms”.  The report includes several critical opinions that questions the usefulness of the Vaev tissue.

So, Why Do I Care??   Colds and the flu are diseases caused by viruses, and the “common cold” causes a 40 billion loss to the economy, but rarely lethal. The influenza virus causes several thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths every year in the USA. Any new idea is worth a look.

Plain English, Please!!!   First, let’s talk about cold and flu viruses. Both the news article and the company statements use flu and cold like they were the same illness.  In fact, those viruses are very different.    We can catch a cold many times during the year, because there many versions of rhinoviruses that can be passed on to us.  The 160 types of rhinoviruses all give us a runny nose, and mild fever.  We catch influenza usually once a year, because there is only one main type of flu virus each year.  The flu virus gives us a runny nose, body aches, and a more persistent fever.

Second, let’s talk about how our immune system can be trained to fight cold and flu viruses.  Our immune fighter cells can recognize each rhinovirus, and each flu virus type, and fight each type of invader.  When our immune system creates an army of fighters against a rhinovirus, that army can’t fight another rhinovirus. So, our immune system needs to be re-trained for each rhinovirus week to week, month to month.   When our immune system creates an army of fighters against a flu virus, that army will be useful for an entire year, because flu viruses come in one type each year.

Third, let’s talk about the utility of the Vaev tissue.  We don’t know (the company doesn’t state) whether it’s rhino viruses or flu viruses that are on the used tissue.  We also don’t know if there are other pathogens on the used tissue, so we can’t be sure that a used tissue is safer than a needle.  The company’s claim that “you should be able to get sick on your terms” implies that you can get done with a disease by using the tissue to infect you.  However, if you get a rhino virus from the tissue, you may get sickened by a different rhino virus a week later.  If the tissue was to guarantee to give you influenza, then the tissue would replace the flu shot, but the risk is that you will get seriously sick by the virus from the tissue.  In my opinion it’s best to protect yourself from influenza by getting a flu shot.