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—To examine the hypothesis that diverse ties to friends, family, work, and community are associated with increased host resistance to infection.

—After reporting the extent of participation in 12 types of social ties (eg, spouse, parent, friend, workmate, member of social group), subjects were given nasal drops containing 1 of 2 rhinoviruses and monitored for the development of a common cold.

—Quarantine.

—A total of 276 healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 55 years, neither seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus nor pregnant.

—Colds (illness in the presence of a verified infection), mucus production, mucociliary clearance function, and amount of viral replication.

—In response to both viruses, those with more types of social ties were less susceptible to common colds, produced less mucus, were more effective in ciliary clearance of their nasal passages …