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thelonetiel t1_istm2uj wrote

Reply to comment by ottpro in If I am just recovered from a typical cold (5 days long / 2 days off work), am I now more immune to all infections for a period of time, or less? by [deleted]

Can confirm, other population centers also have a variety of viruses.

This feels like a continuation of the misconception that "being out in the cold makes you sick" - when in reality the source of a cold is just a virus.

There are some factors that drive up disease rates in winter or colder climates - more time indoors with less ventilation makes spreading airborne viruses easier, among others - but warm climates still have the flu and the common cold viruses floating around

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Emu1981 t1_isuvmpt wrote

The ability for viral particles to survive in the air also is dependent on the temperature and humidity. Not to mention that being cold reduces the efficiency of your immune system - the reason why you get a fever when you have a infection is that your immune system works best at higher than average body temperatures and the higher temperatures tends to impair the ability of the infection to replicate and spread.

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regular_modern_girl t1_isvpce5 wrote

yeah also summer colds are a thing. Also, even in many areas with hot climates, the winter tends to be cooler and rainy (unless you’re right in the middle of the tropics where seasons don’t really work the same way), which means that people still end up spending more time indoors (especially since even 15 °C can feel cold to someone from a warm climate). It’s really just people packing together in less ventilated spaces which allows viruses to spread more (although with influenza I have also heard that the virus can’t remain viable outside as long in hot weather, and iirc this is even somewhat true of covid, but most transmission happens at fairly close range, anyway).

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