Why isn't there a cure for the common cold?

[Joony]

...i don't like being sick...

 

[TripleJ]

I don't think anyone really knows what causes it.

Get well soon.

 

[jehh]

<< ...i don't like being sick... >>



Yep, being sick sucks... I'd rather be working...

I feel for ya man...

Get better soon!

Jason

 

[toph99]

i wish they had one too, this is my second day of school that i've missed in a row. i'm gonna be way behind

/me looks at the two bags full of used tissue in the corner

bleh.

 

[jehh]

There are times when large amounts of drugs would be useful...

When I'm feeling that sick, I just want someone to knock me out until I'm better... :disgust:

Jason

 

[Fausto]

It's not that we don't know what causes it (it's a rhinovirus), it's just that virii are really hard to deal with as they live and replicate in your cells whereas bacteria float around on their own and are generally easier to knock out because of this. Treating a virus is like having to burn your house down to get rid of the roaches because they're in the walls...this is kinda what a fever does, virii are generally kind of fragile, so if you jack up the temp in the "house" they don't replicate as well. AIDS drugs don't treat the virus itself, they block certain enzymes necessary for the virus to replicate. This is one of the reasons they have so many side effects as your body needs these enzymes for day-to-day stuff as well.

The other big problem with colds is that the virus is constantly mutating and changing so even if you identified a strain and made a vaccination for it, you'd just get whacked by another strain you weren't immunized against. That's why there's a new flu vaccine combo every year....new flu bugs every year.

Fausto

 

[bunker]

I was just waiting for you to post in this thread Fausto!!!

 

[Fausto]

I'm pretty worthless with most of the techie computer questions...so naturally I have to make an effort to answer the bio questions as that is what I do for a living.

The CDC should pay me extra every time I answer a thread like this...hehe.

Fausto

 

[Boogak]

Anyone else swear by Coldeeze? That stuff really does shorten the lifespan of my colds from 7 days to about 4 days or less.

 

[troglodytis]

there is.

bovine alpha interferon. (not to be confused with other alpha interferons which can have mad side effects)

ok, it's an immuno-stimulant, so while not technicly a cure, it will help your own immune system to wipe out a cold in a day.

unfortunately you can't get the stuff.

 

[katka]

No virus is curable. They can be treated or prevented but not cured.

 

[luv2chill]

Yep, Fausto knows his stuff! I only took one semester of microbiology, but it was absolutely fascinating. Wish I had the time/opportunities to study it further.

l2c

 

[RedRooster]

THERE IS!!!
If you drink 1/4 of the bottle each afternoon(after work, even after supper), by the end of the bottle you'll be cured!

 

[ggavinmoss]

There is a cure... it's called Rum. You'll feel better, trust me . (Don't take with sudafed/nyquil/etc.)

-geoff

 

[Miramonti]

I like Coldeaze also my friend. My colds never seem to linger when I take it.

Viruses can be huge problems for our immune system but on the positive side, thankfully its not as devastating as some other viruses.

 

[bunker]

<< There is a cure... it's called Rum. You'll feel better, trust me . (Don't take with sudafed/nyquil/etc.)

-geoff >>


That never worked for me. Whenever I got a cold while going to college I would drink rum (and any other alcohol I happened to have in my grubby little hands at the time) and the longer I continued to drink, the longer the cold lasted.

 

[katka]

Again, there may be treatments but not cures.

 

[Joony]

so this Coldeeze stuff works?

 

[Michael]

One of the main reasons that there isn't a cure for the "common cold" is that it isn't a major health risk (it is almost never fatal). Even without any treatment at all, it runs its course and is done with. It's symptoms are also pretty easy to treat. As mentioned, it also is caused by many, many different strains of virii which makes it very difficult to vacinate against. Unlike the flu, which is a much more severe illness, the expense of developing a vaccine is probably not worth the benefit.

Michael

 

[Zenmervolt]

The best cure I have found is simply time. I take four days and I'm fine again. Fausto, is it true that once your body has had a particular virus that you are then immune to it (to some degree) for the rest of your life?

Zenmervolt

 

[LiQiCE]

I've used Coldeeze before and it has sped up the cold. Its very odd though because every morning you will wake up with a different "stage" of the cold ... First maybe drippy nose, then the next day a sore throat, then the next day a cough and then the next day a stuffy nose ... then the next day you're fine again.

What Coldeeze is supposed to do is block the virus from spreading from one part of your body to the next ... I'm no expert on anything with biology but supposedly what a cold will do is spread from your nose to your throat and then back to your nose again making colds take weeks for the full symptoms to go away. I've used Coldeeze and the Halls version of Coldeeze (which tastes 100 times better) and both of them have reduced my cold lengths pretty well ... You have to take the Coldeeze the second you feel the symptoms of a cold coming on though or else it will take longer to work.

Oh it is true too that once you have a cold you're immune to it ... But there are many different strains of the common cold and you're only immune to one particular type .. One problem I've noticed is that when I move to a new area I get sick a lot more often because the strains of viruses in the new area are different so I'm more susceptible to get sick.

 

[Fausto]

Not necessarily immune, but you will have a much better response to it the second time around as you should have created antibodies the first time around. This is the principle behind vaccination, they give you a killed/weakened/facimilie version of a given bug so your body can make antibodies without having to actually get sick to make them. This is also why you may feel a little funky or even run a slight fever the day you get immunized; your body is fighting what it perceives as an infection. Then the next time you are exposed to that bug, your body recognizes it and mounts an immediate immune response to wipe it out before it can really get established.

The problem with cold virii (and AIDS and flu for that matter) is that there are always new strains popping up so your previous experiece with other strains doesn't do you any good. Essentially every time you get a cold, it's a new version of the virus your bod hasn't seen yet.

Fausto

 

[OSUdrunk]

There are thousands of minutely different strains of what we consider a "cold" therefore it would be impossible to fight against all of them.