Rhinovirus and Common Cold Transmission — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEETMany viruses also cause diseases in human beings. Rhino viruses represent one such group of viruses which cause one of the most infectious human ailments – the common cold. They infect the nose and respiratory passage but not the lungs. The common cold is characterised by nasal congestion and discharge, sore throat, hoarseness, cough, headache, tiredness, etc., which usually last for 3-7 days. Droplets resulting from cough or sneezes of an infected person are either inhaled directly or transmitted through contaminated objects such as pens, books, cups, doorknobs, computer keyboard or mouse, etc., and cause infection in a healthy person.
NTA tests understanding that rhinoviruses cause the common cold by infecting the nose and respiratory passages, NOT the lungs. The key concept is how the infection spreads: through respiratory droplets from coughs/sneezes (direct inhalation) or via contaminated fomites like doorknobs and keyboards (indirect transmission). Students often mistake common cold as a lung infection or confuse transmission routes. Remember: rhinoviruses specifically target upper respiratory tract, causing 3-7 day symptoms like congestion and sore throat. The highly infectious nature and dual transmission pathway (direct droplet and fomite-mediated) are what NTA focuses on, making this a probable question topic for disease epidemiology.
Match the column
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.