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ottpro t1_istwzuy wrote

Reply to comment by stu54 in If I am just recovered from a typical cold (5 days long / 2 days off work), am I now more immune to all infections for a period of time, or less? by [deleted]

It's weird. I believe this to be true when talking toddlers, because they seem to get one sickness after another at school/daycare.. But then as we age, elementary and upto even adults, we all seem to go back to work/classes/social situations at the tail end of our colds and yet we usually don't immediately catch something else, even tho other variants must be going around the class/office as there are usually 1-2 ppl (out of like 30) missing every week.

So as an adult, I kinda feel like post-cold, I have generally stronger overall immunity.. At least to the parent strain type (say, rhinoviruses)

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[deleted] OP t1_istzyvv wrote

part of that is you being a healthy adult. the very young and the very old are more vulnerable to illness because they have weaker immune systems. adulthood confers a degree of immunity because the immune system is the strongest during this period of life.

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NatAttack3000 t1_isv65oc wrote

Kids also don't have the breadth of immune memory as adults do, so your child might get sick from every new virus they encounter (or most of them) while adults have immunity from having seen that virus 10 times already in their lifetime.

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Kenevin t1_isuh5pn wrote

Kids absolutely suck at washing their hands. They'll wipe their nose and then stick their hands in each other's mouths.

It's really no wonder they get sick a lot, they're absolutely reckless, lol. Pack a dozen of them together all day and whatever one gets the other 11 are going to, too.

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