Unless you're licking buttons on the subway, how could you possibly be getting exposed to that many different strains?

For what it's worth adults get the flu about every 5 years[0]. It's not till we get elderly that we can start catching the same or similar strains more frequently.

Similarly with the cold, which are coronaviruses like COVID just lead to less lasting immunity.

Long story short. This kind of research won't help, give it several hundred years and the number of COVID variants will be similarly broad as cold and flus and people will catch them at a stable rate.

[0] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...

> Similarly with the cold, which are coronaviruses like COVID just lead to less lasting immunity.

This common knowledge needs to die.

"Well over 200 virus strains are implicated in causing the common cold, with rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, adenoviruses and enteroviruses being the most common."[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold referencing a web page that has gone missing and has re-appeared as https://www.cdc.gov/features/rhinoviruses/ with slightly different wording.

> Unless you're licking buttons on the subway, how could you possibly be getting exposed to that many different strains?

Kids in primary school (aka the local pathogen exchange) will do that.

The quoted paper doesn't support what you say. It also doesn't demonstrate a difference in the elderly. Given that, I'm inclined to take the rest of this post with a grain of salt and I think every other reader should do the same.

My wife used to be the same, got 3-5 colds/winter. Started wearing N95 masks with Covid and hasn't had a cold since.

Basic hygiene really helps.

Though you might have unavoidable exposure (workplace, commute, etc) which increases your risk.

Exactly this. People notice this when they have kids and kids start going to kindergarten.

I was almost never sick with colds until my kid started going out with other kids. I thought I had a great immunity, it happens I only had good hygiene - washing hands, avoiding contact, rarely going to mass event during flu season and etc.

As kids have poorer hygiene habits, are in very very close contact with each other they get sick easier. After a week or so the father is sick with exactly the same symptoms.

No need kids for that. You can be single and childless but if you date or screw around a lot then you'll get sick a lot quite easy.

Or if your monogamous partner is working in a kindergarten with kids and brings back home every bug they have.

Under solicitation of the immune system can make you more vulnerable to some viruses though, if you finally get infected.

Avoiding colds might not be as beneficial as we think.

People keep saying this so there is probably something to it. I mean, not even the most optimistic mask studies show a long-term complete protection from all pathogens that can cause colds but okay, let's take it at face value: your wife is protected from colds because she wears N95s.

What this means is that your wife's immune system isn't getting challenged and isn't learning about the ever changing pathogens around it. It's not building immunity to the various strains every winter and it therefore can't get any cross-immunity ie against SARS-COV-2 [1].

All we know about the immune system suggests this is not good in the long term.

If true and I kind of hope it's not for this reason, your wife might be setting herself up for a very serious disease down the line. I hope this is not the case and wish both of you the best of luck.

[1] https://www.mpg.de/17434954/0907-moge-prior-exposure-to-comm...

Yeah it does. I made some changes when I got married. I think my problem is that I had my sinuses removed along with a tumor when I was a teenager. Now it seems I just need to see someone sick and I'll catch what they have.

During the pandemic I started taking vitamin d. That really took the edge off of the flu. I suspect I'm a bit low on that.

For what it’s worth, Vitamin D actually subdues your immune system in a lot of ways (and helps in others). One of the theories as to why low Vitamin D levels are correlated to higher deaths from COVID is that Vitamin D helps your immune system from going into overdrive.

> Basic hygiene really helps.

I know this is might be a poor example but there are old anime series from 80s, early 90s where characters that get sick wear simple masks to protect others from spreading whatever they caught.

That's animated cartoon while in reality, whole pandemic I was observing the comments around the global and "local" Internet (as well real life convos) where people called the necessity of wearing masks as restriction of civil freedoms, and masks as "muzzles".

My sister was even harassed walking by street by some random guy who stopped his car, rolled window and ordered her to "take off this rag from face".

From what I've heard S. Koreans still prefer to wear masks despite that these aren't enforced in public space - tho, the particular places and situations where these are needed still apply.

So I wonder, do the countries that describe themselves as Western differ that much from Asia in term of public health and responsibility towards others, and just really basic hygiene? It doesn't seem to be a brainier to protect oneself and others.

Many asian women wear masks to avoid the sun. A tan is seen as unattractive so they'll put on a hat and wear a mask when they go out. At least my mother in law is like that.

I don't think this will ever happen. In my opinion the general cold / flu are just "normal" diseases indicative of low immunity. They're not so specific like covid, pox, etc. Though I'm not saying there won't exist medication with immediate effect (because common cold is fairly decent understood), but that there won't be a "one time" medication that will proof our entire lives from such things.

Not quite, new variants develop and new to adult variants will appear every few years.

It's less able to spread than COVID so adults get the flu about every 5 years[0].

I'm sure you've heard of Spanish flu by now, but may not have heard of Encephalitis Lethargica [1] that followed it.

Luckily nothing like that has happened again and CFS is tame in comparison. But the flu still has surprises in store for us.

[0] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica

Unless you have some seriously and permanently weakened immunity, exposure to colds and flus actually helps long term. Also you are potentially passing this increased immunity to your offsprings.

Of course going through it sucks, I am in same bandwagon with 2 small kids and getting often sick with same stuff they have. And they do have stuff basically semi-constantly from mid autumn to mid spring. Half the class has constantly running noses.

How do you think kids build their immunity? You don't get it by just growing up, its exposure after exposure. Protecting them too much from common stuff is one of the worst things you can do as a parent, they will have serious health issues and allergies later on.

We could do the immunity building by yearly shots (that contain 100+ strains). It doesn't have to suck.

Have you noticed if getting a flu shot makes a difference for you?

It normally means I recover about a week earlier when I get the flu. So instead of two weeks down it's a little under one. But I don't know for sure that's not just coincidence.