So this is the second time I'm sick this seaso but by the sound of things, I feel like I'm lucky due to this being a bad flu season and both times were colds not the flu. Am I lucky or is that typical for this year?
It's very unusual to get the same disease twice, as your body builds up a resistance after the first time. Is that what happened?
Quote from: 1 on February 26, 2018, 05:32:49 AM
It's very unusual to get the same disease twice, as your body builds up a resistance after the first time. Is that what happened?
At least that is what I think happened.
Quote from: 1 on February 26, 2018, 05:32:49 AM
It's very unusual to get the same disease twice, as your body builds up a resistance after the first time. Is that what happened?
Both the cold and the flu have a zillion different stains each and you only acquire immunity to them one at a time. This is why we have an annual flu shot that is sometimes not effective and no vaccine or cure for the common cold exists.
Quote from: vdeane on February 26, 2018, 02:05:33 PM
Quote from: 1 on February 26, 2018, 05:32:49 AM
It's very unusual to get the same disease twice, as your body builds up a resistance after the first time. Is that what happened?
Both the cold and the flu have a zillion different stains each and you only acquire immunity to them one at a time. This is why we have an annual flu shot that is sometimes not effective and no vaccine or cure for the common cold exists.
This. However, IIRC no vaccine exists for the common cold largely because the virus mutates so rapidly that any potential vaccine would quickly become useless. Even with influenza, it's largely a guessing game as to which strains will be the most virulent and harmful. It's why the flu vaccine varies quite a lot between years, and also why this past season it had an awful efficacy rate (<20 percent, I think.)
I've often wondered why they don't just make an ubervaccine for the flu with every known strain in it. They already do multiple strains at once with the annual, what's a few more? Or do they also mutate quickly enough to make that not worth the trouble?