Does the cold give you a cold?

[Indiana Mike]

I just saw another news report with a doctor stating the cold doesn't give you a cold . I know the cold is a type of virus ,but I firmly believe getting too cold has something to do with it. It either temporarily weakens your immune system opening a door for invasion , or causes an inflammatory response with the result being cold like symptoms .

Hey doc , come to work with me on a ten degree day and stand outside for 10 hours with improper clothing and we'll see how you feel in the next couple days !

During part of this report the doc was saying a hat or gloves really didn't matter ....

I'll stick to whats worked for me in the past thank you.

[bolophonic]

It makes sense to try to stay warm, but yeah... colds are caused by viruses, not temperature.

[Indiana Mike]

Originally Posted by bolophonic

It makes sense to try to stay warm, but yeah... colds are caused by viruses, not temperature.

I'm not saying I believe the cold weather causes it but I refuse to completely dismiss it as factor.

[SolarMan]

You are right, it is a factor:

During cold seasons people usually gather together indoors more often and in larger numbers, giving the virus a better opportunity to transmit to the next person. Hence the term "cold".

Standing outside on a 10 degree day for 10 hours with improper clothing will only give you hypothermia.

[Mushroo]

Germs thrive in warm environments. Being outside breathing the fresh air on a cold day (instead of inside a warm, crowded school, hospital, nursing home, church, etc.) is a great way to stay healthy.

[96tbird]

Virus's are not alive. They do not thrive anywhere except when their DNA is injected into a cell; at all anther times they are dormant seeds of destruction. When they speak of "live" virus, they are referring to the fact that the DNA within it is still viable. To kill dna they have to " cook" it to destroy it. Virus are like tiny genetic mechanisms not living things. They are not alive. They cannot reproduce outside a host cell. Bacteria can, bacteria are alive.

[DwaynieAD]

I'll second the op's idea that it weakens the body opening the flood gates. all of my own anecdotal evidences points to this.

[rodl2005]

Yes but, why, if you DO end up getting particularly cold, wet etc, during winter, do you often end up catching a "cold" or getting sick?

[Phalex]

It is my understanding that viruses remain viable longer in situations where the humidity is low. So in the winter time when the air dries out, a virus on a surface can infect a person many days longer than a virus on the same surface if it were humid.

[Mushroo]

^ So if someone with a cold sneezes on you, you'd prefer the sneeze be as wet as possible?

[Phalex]

Originally Posted by Mushroo

^ So if someone with a cold sneezes on you, you'd prefer the sneeze be as wet as possible?

Not exactly.........

[Febs]

Originally Posted by rodl2005

Yes but, why, if you DO end up getting particularly cold, wet etc, during winter, do you often end up catching a "cold" or getting sick?

This is an example of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Just because one thing happens after another does not mean that the second was caused by the first. There are people who get cold and wet who do not catch a cold, and people who catch a cold without first getting cold and wet.

"Although a connection exists between the number of cases of the common cold and the fall and winter seasons, there is no experimental evidence that exposure to cold temperatures increases the chances that you will get a cold."

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/comm...ges/cause.aspx

[macaroni tony]

Iono; every time I step outside and cold air hits my chest, my nose starts itching and I start sneezing. Maybe the cold doesn't give me "a cold," but it sure makes me feel cold-ey

[Bassamatic]

Originally Posted by SolarMan

You are right, it is a factor:

During cold seasons people usually gather together indoors more often and in larger numbers, giving the virus a better opportunity to transmit to the next person. Hence the term "cold".

Standing outside on a 10 degree day for 10 hours with improper clothing will only give you hypothermia.

+1 And perhaps the cold weather lowers your resistance if you don't keep comfortable, so when you are exposed to the virus from someone nearby, you can't shake it off.

[tastybasslines]

It only really happens when your extremities go from an area of warmth, to an extended period/area of cold. Its the drastic change that does it.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by SolarMan

You are right, it is a factor:

During cold seasons people usually gather together indoors more often and in larger numbers, giving the virus a better opportunity to transmit to the next person. Hence the term "cold".

Standing outside on a 10 degree day for 10 hours with improper clothing will only give you hypothermia.

^ Yup, this.

[FilterFunk]

Originally Posted by macaroni tony

Iono; every time I step outside and cold air hits my chest, my nose starts itching and I start sneezing. Maybe the cold doesn't give me "a cold," but it sure makes me feel cold-ey

^This. I'm a preschool teacher, and over many years I've been exposed to just about every common illness known to man. I can spend all week inside with dozens of snot-nosed kids and not so much as sniffle. Yet I can go in my yard on a crisp late autumn Saturday and rake leaves, get a runny nose, start sneezing, and the next morning I've got what seems a whole lot like a cold! Perhaps cold weather somehow helps stimulate the virus?

[bolophonic]

Originally Posted by FilterFunk

^This. I'm a preschool teacher, and over many years I've been exposed to just about every common illness known to man. I can spend all week inside with dozens of snot-nosed kids and not so much as sniffle. Yet I can go in my yard on a crisp late autumn Saturday and rake leaves, get a runny nose, start sneezing, and the next morning I've got what seems a whole lot like a cold! Perhaps cold weather somehow helps stimulate the virus?

You are probably experiencing an allergy to leaf mold in that situation.

[Bloodhammer]

[DwaynieAD]

Originally Posted by bolophonic

You are probably experiencing an allergy to leaf mold in that situation.

focusing on the wrong part there.