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. 2025 Jun 18;12(7):ofaf326.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf326. eCollection 2025 Jul.

Common Cold Coronavirus Test Positivity Decreased After Widespread SARS-CoV-2 Experience

Trisha Parayil  1 , Janet Monroe  2 , David J Bean  3 , Manish Sagar  1   3
Affiliations

Common Cold Coronavirus Test Positivity Decreased After Widespread SARS-CoV-2 Experience

Trisha Parayil et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Diverse respiratory viruses, such as the common cold coronaviruses (ccCoVs), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza virus (IV), circulated before the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We hypothesized that ccCoV, but not RSV or IV, test positivity changed after widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination because of shared features among the coronaviruses (CoVs).

Methods: We collected all ccCOVs, RSV, and IV detected at Boston Medical Center from October 2015 to April 2024. We compared virus positivity in the 5 respiratory seasons before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020 with the 2 seasons after the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant surge ended around April 2022. We used multivariate linear regression, generalized estimating equations, and multivariate logistic regression analysis to compare total weekly virus detected and test positivity frequency.

Results: Test positivity for ccCoVs, but not RSV or IV, was significantly lower after widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination compared with the seasons before the first documented SARS-CoV-2 case. There was ∼60% lower odds of a ccCoV, but no change in RSV odds, in the seasons after extensive established SARS-CoV-2 immunity from infection and COVID-19 vaccination.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that ccCoV, but not RSV and IV, positivity has decreased significantly in recent respiratory seasons. There are multiple potential mechanisms for the observed ccCoVs decrease, such as cross-reactive immune response among the different but highly related CoVs, along with changing behavioral and health care practices.

Keywords: RSV; SARS-CoV-2; heterotypic immunity; influenza; seasonal coronaviruses.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Respiratory virus detection at Boston Medical Center from April 2015 to September 2024. Weekly detected ccCoV (A), RSV (B ), and IV (C ) from April 20, 2015, to September 30, 2024 (x-axis). Each individual dot represents a weekly total. The years on top identify the respiratory seasons. In each graph the left and right solid line indicate the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the time after the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron surge period respectively. Note the y-axes have different scales. Abbreviations: ccCoV, common cold coronavirus; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; IV, influenza virus; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Respiratory virus detection in the 2 different periods. Each dot represents the weekly total number of detected ccCoV (A), RSV (B ), and IV (C ) during the different periods. Period 1 encompasses 5 seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic. Period 2 incorporates 2 seasons after widespread SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection and near universal COVID-19 vaccination. ****P value <.0001 from a generalized estimating equations model. Abbreviations: ccCoV, common cold coronavirus; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; IV, influenza virus; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Test positivity in the 2 different periods. Adjusted OR for ccCoV (A) and RSV (B) detection that accounts for age, level of medical care, and biological sex at birth. For each variable, OR (x-axis) associated with the presence of the factor (y-axis), and the 95% CI is shown. The dotted line indicates equivalent odds (OR, 1) of disease. ***P < .001; ****P < .0001. Abbreviations: ccCoV, common cold coronavirus; OR, odds ratio; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus.
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