If all the known common cold viruses are being kept in a lab somewhere then why can't they combine all of them into one injection that could be given to everyone somewhere around age 10 - 12 years. That way you would either have one enormous cold or lots of colds one after another, either way it would get them out of the way early in life and save thousands of days taken off work.
-- LardyBloke, Nov 02 2001

It'll never work. The buggers mutate.
-- st3f, Nov 02 2001


What st3f said - in a nutshell:

'Cures' in a Bottle change Cold Structures, i.e. Next person who catches a Cold from Person who tried curing self by the teaspoon ends up with a new variation on the theme, etc.

To knock a cold or flu dead, I recommend Vitamin C, Oscillococcinum and echinacea upon onset of symptoms and throughout short duration - No habitual supplemental usage except for Vitamin C for either of the others as regular use renders effect useless.

Cilantro, Onions and a bit of lime as topping on foods during that time works wonders as well. Menudo, which is a folklorical cure is traditionally topped by these items. Menudo isn't the cure however - thankfully so, as it is quite revolting. Having a tasty Carne Asada Burrito with those same toppings works the same wonders - instantly, I might add - and does so without use of highly suspect animal parts.
-- thumbwax, Nov 02 2001


Thritto (ditto to thumbwax's ditto of st3f). That's why workplaces or shared apartments can end up like hospices for months on end - because despite conquering one strain of the cold, by the time the person you've infected conquers it, the cold has mutated to a strain that you're susceptible to, and the whole process just starts again.

I don't know about the rest of those weird-sounding thingamabubs, but I use Vitamin C bombs (1g each) and zinc tablets to kill my colds stone dead, ever since being told that zinc enhances the body's ability to absorb Vitamin C that would otherwise just be pissed away. I find most colds don't last more than a day or two now.
-- Guy Fox, Nov 02 2001


It's all about mental attitude: just don't get sick in the first place.
-- DrBob, Nov 02 2001


Contrary to DrBob's idea, it's not that easy to "not get sick" but what st3f said is right, the cold viruses mutate at alarming rates.
-- robbie the rocker, Dec 23 2005


Flu virus mutates at an alarming rate. I could find no evidence that cold viruses do, but there is apparently a lot less known about them. I found that there were over 100 different types of rhinovirus, and that one becomes immunolgically resistant to an increasing number of types over a lifetime.

There must be a reason you cannot vaccinate against a lot of stuff at once. Flu viruses stimulate immunity only against 3-4 types at once. Or maybe not - kids get mixed vaccines. Maybe the number of flu viruses in the vaccine is limited because of cost reasons?
-- bungston, Dec 23 2005



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