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Original poster

Do normal colds spread as easily?

14 replies

allthehops · 17/09/2023 08:20

Am away at the moment on a group trip - since day two there's been a cold spreading quite quickly within the group, but nobody seems very poorly with it (unlike all the people I know who've had covid the past few weeks at home).

Do ordinary colds spread just as easily? In the past I've had loads of colds that nobody in the house has caught and vice versa. A few on this trip have had what they describe as a "head cold", a few have just had a sore throat, one has an intermittent cough! None have taken to their beds though.

OP posts:
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 17/09/2023 08:23

Dh has the same, if he hadn't tested he would've just thought it was a bad head cold, barely coughing but sneezing and stuffed up like crazy.

DustyLee123 · 17/09/2023 08:41

It’s the time of year for colds, I think it’s to do with the bigger changes of temperature.

DustyLee123 · 17/09/2023 08:42

And that’s why we start flu jabs now.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 17/09/2023 09:04

The flu jabs that the NHS say the under 65s are no longer getting? 😢🙄

MedSchoolRat · 17/09/2023 09:15

Yes they spread as easily, more easily. When nobody else in household catches it, that's usually because 1. the housemates either had it recently enough so currently immune, 2. they get it without symptoms (very common), or 3. they have are low in receptors that the virus binds to (this was common reason in why original wild covid infections were usually worse in older people and unlikely in children).

Vaccination for covid is supposed to reset the clock for adults so we become more like having had covid as children when it's very much more likely to be very mild, and contributes to lifelong resistance to severe illness.

The receptors things is also relevant in norovirus, although I'm not sure if that resistant is so age-dependent. Some people are naturally resistant, anyway, for genetic or age or other reasons.

I imagine pharmacies are offering flu jabs to walk-ins, adults, £10 or so each?

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 17/09/2023 09:18

MedSchoolRat · 17/09/2023 09:15

Yes they spread as easily, more easily. When nobody else in household catches it, that's usually because 1. the housemates either had it recently enough so currently immune, 2. they get it without symptoms (very common), or 3. they have are low in receptors that the virus binds to (this was common reason in why original wild covid infections were usually worse in older people and unlikely in children).

Vaccination for covid is supposed to reset the clock for adults so we become more like having had covid as children when it's very much more likely to be very mild, and contributes to lifelong resistance to severe illness.

The receptors things is also relevant in norovirus, although I'm not sure if that resistant is so age-dependent. Some people are naturally resistant, anyway, for genetic or age or other reasons.

I imagine pharmacies are offering flu jabs to walk-ins, adults, £10 or so each?

Yes they are ,but double that!

EmmaEmerald · 17/09/2023 09:20

Yes ordinary colds spread easily

one person's cold is another's pneumonia

please keep colds to yourself if you can - I appreciate it's not always possible!

Original poster
allthehops · 17/09/2023 09:27

Will do my best but got to fly home tomorrow!

OP posts:
Qilin · 17/09/2023 09:42

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 17/09/2023 09:04

The flu jabs that the NHS say the under 65s are no longer getting? 😢🙄

You can still get one, just not for 'free.' You can book appointments in various pharmacies and even supermarket ones for example, and pay for one - tend to cost between £10-20 ime. We pay for one for dd each year.

SpottyDoll · 17/09/2023 10:13

I'm down with the same thing. A sore throat and head cold. A temp around 37.5. I don't know if that will be from my underlying condition or if it's the cold.

I am amazed at how quickly this spread. My exposure was on Wednesday and again on Thursday. By Friday I wasn't very well.

Now my mother has the same thing I wasn't really around her except on Friday night. I wasn't coughing or sneezing. And now she's not very great with the same thing.

I didn't do a home covid test but I might later. I am amazed at how quick this has spread. I usually take a lot of vitamins and minerals and I was surrounded by colds in the past and never caught anything so this has taken me by surprise. It leads me to suspect that maybe it might possibly be a covid infection.

SpottyDoll · 17/09/2023 12:43

I tested for covid and it was negative. It's so strange. I never really picked up a cold so quickly before.

Also my mother is coming down with a sore throat. We suspect it's the same dose but picked up from a different source (bus transport). I only came down down with symptoms on Friday and I wasn't around her to expose her. I suspect it's the same thing unless if it's covid brewing and starting as a sore throat in her. She had a tremendous sore throat just 5 and half weeks. Surely there would be some immunity to what this is now.

There's something not right.

I never picked up a cold this quickly and easily.

Original poster
allthehops · 19/09/2023 14:12

Well I decided to test when I got back just out of interest, and it was positive. So all the oldies in the group who got it seemed to swat it away...but I feel crap!

OP posts:
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/09/2023 14:15

I'm positive now too ,took me 4 days of feeling slightly iffy and yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to take pain killers and go to bed, still in bed now!

SpottyDoll · 19/09/2023 14:43

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/09/2023 14:15

I'm positive now too ,took me 4 days of feeling slightly iffy and yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to take pain killers and go to bed, still in bed now!

I came down with cold like symptoms on Friday. It was a slow progression of a cold. First a sore throat and then other cold like symptoms.

This doesnt feel right to me. Its been years since I had a cold and it was usually always able to beat it and fight it quickly. This is worse. There was a time during the weekend I was more sick than usual too.

I tested once over the weekend and it was negative. It's Tuesday and I am still not very right. This is so unusual for me.

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