do you think its strange theres still no cure for the common cold!!??
2007-10-21 03:40:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Other - Diseases
I love the question and I would love an answer as I am fighting a horrible cold right now! Most viruses don't have a cure...maybe it's because there are so many different types of viruses that you would need a separate cure for each one. Although I like the answer about job security, because every time I go to Walgreens, they have some new sort of product for treating the common cold!
2007-10-21 03:46:05 · answer #1 · answered by Momto3 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The cold is caused by a virus -- and we don't have "cures" for viruses (antibiotics don't work against them). The best way to combat a virus is through a vaccine (for example, we have vaccines to protect us against the flu, measles, polio, etc.).
So why not create a cold vaccine? The problem is the nasty cold virus mutates so rapidly! Even if we created a vaccine against the strain of virus that causes today's cold, the cold going around next month will be caused by a different virus. Also, it takes a lot of time to "grow" enough vaccine for everyone. Flu viruses mutate about once a year, and we can barely keep up with that.
By the way, our own immune system will keep us from being infected by today's cold ever again. This is why vaccines work -- they use our own body's immune system to give us lifetime immunity against those specific viruses!
If you can figure out how to keep the cold from mutating, or how to anticipate the next mutation and create a vaccine in time, you will be a very wealthy person!
2007-10-21 04:00:54 · answer #2 · answered by Katy D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are no cures for viruses. They are tiny compared to bacteria and do not live in the sense that they do not have a food source for energy and don't need water. They reproduce by injecting themselves into living cells, like up your nose, and get the cell to make more of them.
What makes you ill is the by-products of the cell making more viruses so they are unusual to the cell which means they are not got rid off. Instead they they end up in your blood and in the tissue around the infected cells where they are toxic.
2007-10-21 04:07:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Job security
2007-10-21 03:43:40 · answer #4 · answered by peaches6 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes but it still nice to be challenged by something that is so common but still so elusive
2007-10-21 03:44:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋