Medical Questions » Viruses Questions » Question No. 1026
| Question: | I keep getting one cold after another. Why does it always have to be me? |
| Answer: | You are just very unlucky. Several hundred viruses can cause a cold. Once one virus infects you, you should develop life-long resistance, but because there are so many possible causes, you will still catch colds. Gradually your resistance to infection will improve though, and colds will occur less frequently.
Because they have not been exposed to many viruses, children develop more colds than adults. Unfortunately, once you do catch a cold, it becomes easier to develop a second one. This second cold knocks you about even further, weakening you so that a third one can be caught. This unpleasant chain of events can sometimes continue for months.
Some people also have genetic factors rhat either protect them or make them more susceptible to viral infections. Stress, both physical and mental, can also reduce the body' s resistance to infection. Extremes of temperature are a cause of stress, and an indirect cause of recurrent colds.
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