Colds and Flus.

I suppose you could, but how would you tell?

With so many viruses casuing colds and flu, I'm sure you could have several at once, but as Swimpy asks, how could you tell.

There is a compound produced when one has a virus called interferon. It does have some protective function, I forget the details now, and if I remember right, that would be against all viruses.. Plus antiviral antibodies probably work against re-nfection with the same virus.

Where's pdawg, he's much more up to date than I am on this stuff..

Re: Colds and Flus.

My wife's doctor recommends rest... can I get her the name of your doctor?

Staying at him in bed! Oh my. I'm making funny typos.

Drewdad, you want me to give you my doctor's name?

It seems to me that your body's reaction to one cold would help prevent you from getting another. But, the way I see it is that you probably could catch two colds at once. Proving it is another case entirely.

Interesting q. I'd like to know too. Only recently recovered from what I'm quite sure was a double-attack. Actually, triple, but one was not a virus - just part of being a woman.

Well, I had an ear infection and caught the flu during the same span of time. Was put on anti-biotics for the ear infection (I know, I know, no point right?) plus drops, which I thought would help to keep down my fever etc but didn't.

Maybe a dumb q: but isn't Interferon a drug, also?

Dunno about colds, but decades (?) ago when I had what I thought was a bad ear infection, the doc told me that I had 3 different types of bacterial infection at the same time. Or so the lab told him. Meant a lot of meds trying to get that particular mess sorted out.

A lot of this, assuming wiki is up to date, is new to me, who last paid attention in the mid seventies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon

(We discovered a particular cytokine..., ah, but that was then.)

Osso, from what I understood, that was fascinating.

So, it's about the antibodies? The interferon is produced in the virally infected cell and travels with the virus when it moves to new cells to alert the new cells that the virus is present. Therefore allowing the newly infected cells to respond more quickly. That's the kind of thing I was thinking might help the body resist a second infection.

Is there an interferon for each infection? Do they have a blanket effect? Seems not so much by the article, but I can't claim to understand much of it, especially at this time.

flushd - interferon is used in cancer drugs. So, maybe.

Beth, by now I really wish they'd done a friggin culture. It's been more than 4 days since I've started with this ear infection.

Can you bend over as if you were going to tie up a pair of shoes?

That's always been my personal litmus for 'get to a doc immediately' - pain on doing up shoelaces. Once I can bend over without stabbing pain/nausea, I know there's hope.

Here's hoping there's hope.

<part of the fatigue could be from the meds>

Oh! Ok, now I remember why it sounded familiar. Interferon injections.

I'm learning...

Beth, I can bend over now with out pain, there's throbbing when I stand back up, though.

I know the meds can make me tired. I seem to remember that. Antibiotics make me disoriented/tired.

Way back in the last century, I understood interferon as being about viruses, nothing to do with bacteria. (Not sure I believe wiki about bacti, but then, see, I haven't read up). I took my virology class in 1964, much has happened since. It was explained hastily as what was going on that you didn't just keep getting (was it new flus or same old flus? for a certain period of time, I might remember it as three weeks) because interferon was active. Even then I saw it as some kind of thwarter for, oh, say, leukemia, which was guessed at the time to maybe be virus related, if memory serves.

In my sloppy overviews since the seventies I've seen interferon seem to work and seem to not work in various circumstances... really, I just read the news semi aciduously, am not up on current science - sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. I was a very interested tech, not ever a scourer of the literature.

See, I distinguish stuff going on with bacteria and viruses, and that may be more than passe by now. Both have antibodies to them.. and, assuming wiki is right?, both generate interferon.

I'm out of my league in commenting, just saying what I remember in the early days.

Aside, does anyone follow the SFGate series of articles by Alicia Parlette? She is/was a Chronicle staffer who at 23 got a rare sarcoma, and has been writing articles about her dealings with it, including trying interferon. She's just recently x'd being an employee and starting a blog. Gutsy.

I like it when people do that, Osso. Write through their trauma as therapy for themselves and education for others. Good on her.

I think PDog has followed this more recently.


I have/had an old friend who was a fellow tech, a woman who first wanted to be a marine biologist; teching was a kind of pacing for her. She eventually went to, I think, the University of Washington in veterinary school, primarily to do immunology, and got a phD in it there...