The Mechanics of Catching a Cold

The common cold is spread by the cold virus being introduced into your nasal passages. This can be transmitted via body fluids droplets being carried through the air and landing inside your mouth or nose. Or it can also occur if you touch an infected person or item and the cold virus is transmitted from your hand if/when you touch your nose. The cold virus is then transported through your nasal passages by virtue of the way your nose functions, and is deposited into the adenoid area.

Once the cold virus enters the adenoid area (a lymph gland) it attaches to cells that are found there. Once the virus is taken inside the cell, it begins to start an infection and produce more virus particles. The infected cell eventually dies and ruptures, releasing newly made cold virus to infect other cells in the nose and start the process over again. From the time a cold virus enters the nose, it takes 8-12 hours for the viral reproductive cycle to be completed and for new cold virus to be released in nasal secretions.

Cold symptoms occur due to the body’s response to the infection. Around the same time the cold virus is released in nasal secretions, the body responds by activating parts of the immune system and some nervous system reflexes. These triggers cause the typical cold symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, coughing, etc.

Cold and Flu Statistics

The common cold & flu are a major threat to health in the United States year after year. Most people see these as illnesses that are not serious threats. However, left unchecked, they can be as deadly as some of the more fearful diseases.

Each year, the common flu infects hundreds of thousands of people. In 2008, over 39,000 cases were serious enough that people sought medical attention. Over 225,000 people had severe enough symptoms that they were tested for flu. Also during the 2008 flu season, flu-related deaths accounted at one point for 9.1% of nationwide deaths.

According to the CDC, in an average year over 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and 36,000 people die from complications related to the common flu. This should be enough for anyone to take their next case of the common flu very seriously.

Statistics for the common cold are even more astounding. The National Center for Health Statistics estimated in 1996 that there were 62 million cases of the common cold that either required a

visit to a doctor or restricted normal activity. Flu statistics have steadily increased in the last several years, so it is safe to say that cold statistics will also have increased. If you divide that number over the course of a year, that equates to 117 cases of the common cold every minute, with almost 2 occurring every second. Additionally, some estimates have the number of colds each year topping 1 billion. Consider this: there are over 300 million people in the United States. To hit 1 billion colds per year, each person would only need to have 3-4 colds in a given year.

According to the CDC’s statistics, the confirmed cases of flu in the United States went up from 23,753 in the 2006-07 flu season to 39,827 in 2007-08. That’s also an increase from 2005-06, which was 17,977. This number is not the cases of flu, but the confirmed cases which sought medical attention and happened to be recorded by the CDC.

The common flu and common cold have not been taken seriously for years, but it is becoming apparent that they have every right to be ranked with the deadliest diseases humans can catch. It is important to take proper precautions and stay healthy, and to always take even the simplest of symptoms seriously.

How to Catch a Cold

We’ve all been told over the years, “Come in out of the snow! You’re going to catch a cold!” Well, if a cold was a metaphor for frozen fingers or a red nose, Mom would’ve been right. However, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has found that being chilled, overheated, frozen, or thawed has little or no effect on the development of a cold.

So what is the true method of catching a cold? Cold viruses, like any other virus, do not magically appear. Viruses are microscopic parasites that are basically DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein shell. They can’t reproduce without a host cell. In the case of the common cold, essentially every time you catch a cold, it has been given to you by another host. Most viruses do not survive outside of the body for long, only up to 6 hours or so. So how is it getting to you?

When someone else has a cold, their body starts trying to expel it. This means that they will sneeze, cough, have a runny nose, and other symptoms that are essentially the body’s way of removing unwanted substances. When someone near you has a cold and they sneeze, they send tiny particles of moisture, many of which may contain the cold virus, into the air, waiting for you to breathe them in and become infected. It is also just as easy to catch a cold with no people around, depending on where you are. Busy, high-traffic areas like offices, schools, and mass transit stations tend to be rife with germs due to the constant contact of human hands. When a sick person touches their nose or mouth, germs are transferred to their hands. When they touch a surface, the germs then transfer to that, and as mentioned above, they can survive for up to 6 hours. As soon as a healthy person touches the surface, the germs are on their hands and it’s just a matter of rubbing an eye or touching a mouth, and a cold is caught.

It’s important to understand how to catch a cold in order to know what to avoid. By staying away from busy, crowded places when possible, you increase your chances of avoiding a cold. Also, washing hands often or using some kind of hand sanitizer will help greatly. If your hands are clean before touching any susceptible areas, like the mouth, eyes, or nose, the common cold will have much less chance of reaching you.