stu54 t1_istw8bx wrote on October 18, 2022 at 5:48 PM

Also, your adaptive immune response has somewhat limited capacity for learned immunity. A new infection diverts antibody production away from older responses. You are less immune to everything except the most recent infection, assuming all other things are equal.

ottpro t1_istwzuy wrote on October 18, 2022 at 5:53 PM

It's weird. I believe this to be true when talking toddlers, because they seem to get one sickness after another at school/daycare.. But then as we age, elementary and upto even adults, we all seem to go back to work/classes/social situations at the tail end of our colds and yet we usually don't immediately catch something else, even tho other variants must be going around the class/office as there are usually 1-2 ppl (out of like 30) missing every week.

So as an adult, I kinda feel like post-cold, I have generally stronger overall immunity.. At least to the parent strain type (say, rhinoviruses)

[deleted] OP t1_istzyvv wrote on October 18, 2022 at 6:13 PM

part of that is you being a healthy adult. the very young and the very old are more vulnerable to illness because they have weaker immune systems. adulthood confers a degree of immunity because the immune system is the strongest during this period of life.

NatAttack3000 t1_isv65oc wrote on October 18, 2022 at 10:51 PM

Kids also don't have the breadth of immune memory as adults do, so your child might get sick from every new virus they encounter (or most of them) while adults have immunity from having seen that virus 10 times already in their lifetime.

Kenevin t1_isuh5pn wrote on October 18, 2022 at 8:03 PM

Kids absolutely suck at washing their hands. They'll wipe their nose and then stick their hands in each other's mouths.

It's really no wonder they get sick a lot, they're absolutely reckless, lol. Pack a dozen of them together all day and whatever one gets the other 11 are going to, too.