common cold

[kevin31110]

How does ibuprofen and acetaminophen ease the common cold virus symptoms? Where can i find rhinovirus bacteria so i can grow on petri dishes?

[donnahardy2]

Hi Kevin,

This is a very original idea for a science project. I think you should be able to develop this idea into a really great project, but it will take some work and resources, and there is a limitation on what type of experiment you can do.

First, do an internet search on “physiological effects of ibuprofen, acetaminophen and rhinovirus,” to help you understand the mechanism of action of these anti-inflammatory agents and of the cold virus. For example, here is a paper reporting the physiological effects of ibuprofen on patients with sepsis. You are looking for scientific sources of information:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9070471

Unfortunately, it is not possible to do a science fair project with rhinoviruses because they are classified as biological safety level 3. You can do a project with a nonpathogenic virus that is classified as a BSL-1 or BSL-2, but not BSL-3:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... ents.shtml

What type of experiment were you thinking about doing? Perhaps you could adapt it to a project idea that you could get approval to do.

Please do post again in this thread to continue the discussion on this topic.

Donna Hardy

[Jacobie09]

Neat project!