By Mark Fisher
Doc
Sharing a cold
Lost in the Stars
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As I write, I’m fighting with some small bug. Just a cold, but one that gives me some sympathy for those of you that suffer from allergies. Sneezes and sniffles. And I have no idea where I was exposed. I haven’t been getting out much with all kinds of things going on that I’ve been sticking around for at the house. I guess it doesn’t take much. A handshake here or there and there you have it.
Luckily, I don’t have too much that I have to get out for right now, although I do have a couple trips down to Bakersfield coming up so I’ll try to practice good cold manners when I’m out. Most of the time people catch colds from someone who already has the virus or, one of the many viruses that cause colds. Since the immune system remembers and can usually fight a cold off before you notice it if it is one you’ve been exposed to before. I guess that I hadn’t been exposed to this one.
Viruses have a pretty high mutation rate so they are always changing and evolution is going to favor the ones that “look” different to our immune systems. That’s one reason that we can never really become immune to the cold. Because there is no “the” cold, the immune system has to try to hit a moving target, which it has a hard time doing.
Of course, I could be wrong but I think that the immune system, like the rest of me, needs a bit of exercise now and then. So maybe catching a cold once in a while is like doing a 5k. Kind of hard on a person, but easier if you’ve been working out. So maybe I need to get out a bit more and be exposed to a few more germs.
However, I’ll try to wait until I’m better. While sharing is good, I’m thinking it’s less so with a virus.
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