can you catch the same virus twice?

Answer 1

You can catch different strains of a virus...ie.flu. You can also have viruses that lay dormant in your body and re-emerge after several years...often at times of stress.

Answer 2

There are dozens, even hundreds, of different strains of virus, and they’re constantly mutating. As long as your immune system is working properly, you can't catch the same identical virus twice, but there are still plenty more to go around. It can be the same virus, but a different strain.

As Goldmann explains, viruses can live on contaminated surfaces for up to five or six hours. But just touching the surface usually isn't enough to get you sick: the skin on your hands is a pretty tough barrier for cold germs. When the cold virus does manage to infiltrate your body, it usually gets in through an entrance that isn't so well guarded, like your nose or your eyes. (Your mouth actually isn't such a great way in, as it turns out—so kissing is relatively safe.)

Now, few people actually rub their noses or eyes directly on doorknobs, used tissues, or other surfaces that can carry the cold virus. But if you touch these things and then scratch your nose or rub your eyes, you've just given the cold virus a free ride into your body. That's why hand washing is the most effective way to avoid picking up someone else's cold germs.

The flu virus can spread this way too, but unlike most cold viruses, it's also carried easily in droplets of moisture in a sneeze or a cough. Because of that, the flu spreads more easily than most colds. Luckily, most flu seasons are dominated by only a handful of different strains of the virus, making it possible to create an effective vaccine that will prevent most cases of illness.

Answer 3

As with any disease, one of two things happens, you die from it or you become immune to it. So, the answer is NO. You will either be dead or immune.

However, each and every virus is mutating, evolving, so a related strain, such as with influenza, can and does cause you to get sick from influenza year after year.

Some would ask at this point, what about HIV? Poeple are living a long time without difficulty. Well, in the case of HIV, it just hasn't killed you YET. 30 years ago, HIV was a virtual death sentence. Medication can slow the progression, but there is NO cure yet, so if you are not immune (and so far no one has shown immunity has developed in the body after acquiring HIV) you are in the process of the disease and it is killing you.

Answer 4

yes
though usually it catches YOU

Strange saying actually. Who would want to catch a virus?! They are problem enough when they catch us!

BTW, have caught the same computervirus several times in a row already!!

Answer 5

nope. once you contract a virus your body develops antibodies to that virus, so if you come in contact with it again, it cannot infect you. Sad thing is there are millions of viruses, all of which mutate. Once mutation occurs the virus can then attack you as the antibodies that were produced are not effective against the mutated virus. And some viruses, like HIV, attack the immune system, and prevent production of antibodies at all.

Answer 6

YES... Flu is a virus..

Answer 7

It's possible. It really depends on your immune system.

Answer 8

if you catch aids or hiv, you cant catch it again because you have it all your life

Answer 9

Yes you can.

Answer 10

yes, in fact even more