Achoo! You may have more in common with the camel than you think

You may finally have someone to blame for that annoying common cold.

Researchers have reported that camels may be responsible for your runny noses and sneezing fits. Researchers at the University Hospital of Bonn in Germany have found that the common cold originates from camels, just like the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, known as MERS.

MERS was found in humans for the first time in 2012. "In our MERS investigations, we examined about 1,000 camels for coronaviruses and were surprised to find pathogens that are related to 'HCoV-229E', the human common cold virus, in almost 6% of the cases." The Independent quoted one of the professors as saying.

Don't worry. The tests also suggest that our immune system is strong enough to keep the possibility of a new cold epidemic at bay.

And before you blame camels for your woes, remember that humans are also capable of transmitting some diseases to other species.

It is believed that humans passed on a bacterial infection to monkeys while feeding them peanuts in Gambia.