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I used to get 2-3 really bad colds or flus with bronchitis every year ever since I was an infant. After I had CFS for around 5 years, I stopped getting colds or flus (approx. 2003 / age 43). I could be around very sick people, not wash my hands, and I was seemingly immune to getting colds or flus. I hadn't had any cold or flu since 2002 until the past 7 months. I have been doing many things to boost my immune system, and now I'm catching colds again (3 times in the past 7 months). According to the link below people with strong immune systems easily catch colds. But it is theorized that as the immune system becomes too weak to respond the virus, they won't have symptoms of a cold. So not getting colds at all may actually mean the immune system is getting weaker.
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Myth 1: The greatest myth about the common cold is that susceptibility to colds requires a weakened immune system.
Facts:
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Cold symptoms are due mainly to the body's response to the infection. When a nasal cell is infected by a cold virus, the body responds by activating parts of the immune system and some nervous system reflexes. (5)
The immune system contains a variety of natural substances called inflammatory mediators. Inflammatory mediators help protect the body from infection and other harmful events. Some inflammatory mediators are released when nasal cells are infected by a cold virus. The names of some inflammatory mediators involved in colds include histamine, kinins, interleukins, and the prostaglandins. (5, 16-19)
When activated by a cold virus infection, inflammatory mediators cause dilatation and leakage of blood vessels and mucus gland secretion. (5) Inflammatory mediators also activate sneeze and cough reflexes and stimulate pain nerve fibers. These events are what lead to the symptoms of a cold.
The activity of the inflammatory mediators is not necessary for recovery from cold virus infection. Twenty-five percent of people who acquire cold virus infection do not develop symptoms. (4) People without cold symptoms recover from the infection as well as those who have symptoms.
The individual symptoms of a cold are caused by the action of particular inflammatory mediators, although there is some overlapping. (5) This has important implications for developing and selecting effective cold treatments.
http://www.commoncold.org/understand.htm#symptoms
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Myth 1: The greatest myth about the common cold is that susceptibility to colds requires a weakened immune system.
Facts:
- Healthy people with normal immune systems are highly susceptible to cold virus infection once the virus enters the nose. In volunteers studies, approximately 95% of normal adults became infected when virus was dropped into the nose (72, also see How Cold Virus Infection Occurs).
- Of people who become infected, only 75% develop symptoms with a cold. (5, 72) The other 25% have virus growing in the nose but have no symptoms. They have an "asymptomatic infection".
- Why people sometimes become infected but do not develop cold symptoms is a mystery. One clue is that in such instances the person may not be producing the normal amount of certain inflammatory mediators, the natural body chemicals which cause cold symptoms (2, also see What Causes Cold Symptoms). If this theory is correct, then people with active immune systems may be more prone to developing cold symptoms than people with less active immune systems!
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Cold symptoms are due mainly to the body's response to the infection. When a nasal cell is infected by a cold virus, the body responds by activating parts of the immune system and some nervous system reflexes. (5)
The immune system contains a variety of natural substances called inflammatory mediators. Inflammatory mediators help protect the body from infection and other harmful events. Some inflammatory mediators are released when nasal cells are infected by a cold virus. The names of some inflammatory mediators involved in colds include histamine, kinins, interleukins, and the prostaglandins. (5, 16-19)
When activated by a cold virus infection, inflammatory mediators cause dilatation and leakage of blood vessels and mucus gland secretion. (5) Inflammatory mediators also activate sneeze and cough reflexes and stimulate pain nerve fibers. These events are what lead to the symptoms of a cold.
The activity of the inflammatory mediators is not necessary for recovery from cold virus infection. Twenty-five percent of people who acquire cold virus infection do not develop symptoms. (4) People without cold symptoms recover from the infection as well as those who have symptoms.
The individual symptoms of a cold are caused by the action of particular inflammatory mediators, although there is some overlapping. (5) This has important implications for developing and selecting effective cold treatments.
http://www.commoncold.org/understand.htm#symptoms