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Posted: 13-10-2013 16:08 Post subject: Your last ever cold

Is it true that you will have so many colds and then never have another one once you have built up enough immunity? Or is this a myth?

It's something I occasionally hear repeated but surely if that were true the elderly would never get the sneezles? How many colds would you have to succumb to until that was true, or is it dependent on the sufferer, or is it never true?

Posted: 13-10-2013 16:54 Post subject:

It is possible to have a prolonged period between colds. I'm inclined to think that the more you get, the more vulnerable you become to the next one. I think there are so many variants we can never have had them all - even if it feels like it some years. Sad

Posted: 13-10-2013 19:03 Post subject:

Dunno, but I've read that the great 'flu outbreak of 1918 affected younger people much more than older ones because younger people had not met with, and become resistant to, viruses similar to the 'flu one.

So in their case, being infected with a as many minor colds as possible might have given them a better chance of survival.

I personally feel that bothersome as colds are, it's better to get them and build up resistance than not.

Although of course you don't actually get a choice in the matter. Wink

Posted: 14-10-2013 20:35 Post subject:

I work in a library and I'm constantly sneezed and coughed at by the little customers during storytime. I also have the added joy of handling books that suffering customers have handled with their germy paws! Despite this I have not had a serious cold since I started working there nearly three years ago. I always have a flu jab to hopefully ward off that particular flu (I pay for it, as I don't qualify for it on the NHS). I don't spend every minute of the day scrubbing my hands.

However after a visit from my baby nephew and toddler niece last week the whole family has gawn down with a lovely chesty cough bug with the added joy of sickness and the galloping squits! Shocked

There really must be a very virulent strain of something or other that normally lives down in the South of the country and the little petri dishes on legs brought it up North with them, left it with us and then buggered off back down South again! Bless 'em! Rolling Eyes

Posted: 14-10-2013 21:44 Post subject:

Posted: 15-10-2013 14:57 Post subject:

Posted: 15-10-2013 22:34 Post subject:

Posted: 16-10-2013 09:51 Post subject:

A minor infection which most people would shrug off can develop into something quite serious if the person's health is already poor or if they are stressed or exhausted.

For example, pneumonia can kill an adult in a couple of days if they don't get treatment quickly enough. This happened to both the actress Brittany Murphy and her husband, who both died of pneumonia within 6 months of each other. (The family suspected that mould in their home caused it, but tests showed no evidence of that.) Their health was poor before they were taken ill.

Urk, the cold with the galloping squits! Had a bit of that recently. Reckon I caught it at work. Being of robust health I soon recovered.

Posted: 16-10-2013 18:25 Post subject:

Posted: 16-10-2013 18:25 Post subject:

It's beginning to sound as if the cold immunity story is a myth after all, there are too many personal factors to take into account.