if you get 2 different flu viruses in your body at the same time will you get twice as sick.?

Question

how will 2 different flu viruses comingle in your body at the same time or a flu virus and a cold virus in your body at the same time. how will your body react to multiple viruses in your body at the same time? will you get twice as sick?

Answer 1

This really depends on mainly two things: the strain of the viruses that made their way in your system and your immune system itself. While it is possible that two different viral strains of the same type or even of different types to infect a particular individual at the same time (I don't know anyone crazy enough or unlucky enough to acquire this), viral DNA crossover is not very likely between the two viral strains because this could either render the viral DNA of one type or even both types useless because some of its DNA sequences and corresponding genes have been "turned off" due to mutation (such as reciprocation between the two viral DNA's).

The extremely unlucky but rare case is perhaps one wherein pathogenicity islands (gene sequences of a pathogen that code for actually causing the disease) between the two different viral types have coincided with each other to form what can be colloquially called a "super pathogenic" viral DNA--in essence, a viral DNA that, once becoming the virus itself, codes for a hybrid of two diseases, one for flu and one for cold, if flu virus and rhinovirus are concerned as examples.

In any case, once the two viruses (same type different strain, or two different types as what you have mentioned) have incorporated themselves in your body, your immune system will repsond equally to both, with a better response to the viral strain easily recognized by your immune system, i.e. your flu shot would possibly protect you for flu while the rhinovirus will start doing its thing if your immune system does not recognize the cell-surface antigen of the rhinoviral strain.

If your immune system does not recognize both, it would be most likely that the symptoms of both viruses and diseases would present themselves, sometimes overlapping each other; somehow, you can say that you are "twice as sick", although you won't really know exactly for sure which one of the diseases had the first cap. So, your immune system will react to any pathogen equally, since that is what your immune system is for; however, some responses are fast since your immune system knows it already while some are slow because they are "getting to know each other", so to speak.

Hope this helps!