• Question: why do people get a different cold every time they have a cold?

    Asked by oliviacrouch to Christina, Colin, Jess, Samaneh, Steve on 19 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Steven Gardner

      Steven Gardner answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      When your body fights an infection it remembers what it what, so next time you catch the same thing your immune system recognises the intruder and already knows how to kill it.

      Unfortunately the cold virus mutates too fast for your body to keep up, so the next time you catch a cold it’s slightly different to what it was and your body doesn’t recognise it. These slight differences also change what effects it has.

    • Photo: Christina Pagel

      Christina Pagel answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Yeah the common cold is a nasty thing in that the virus keeps changing so your poor body can’t keep up! But if you get a cold you are probably immune to getting another one at least for a month or so (unless you’re really unlucky and catch an unrelated one!)…

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