With all this social distancing and my lack of colds recently, I was wondering if colds can only be caught from other people? If so, does this mean they are perpetually just surviving by moving from host to host? If not, where do the originate from?
In: Biology
Your assumptions are correct. Colds are caused by a virus. You have to catch that virus from somewhere. The places that the cold virus hangs out that you can catch it from is other people and things they have recently touched. Therefore if you are not around other people or things they have touched, you won’t get the cold. The virus survives by jumping from person to person. If it doesn’t jump, it dies out. That is why herd immunity is important (enough people are immune that it doesn’t jump between them and it dies out).
Many viruses also can be caught from animals. This includes viruses such as influenza, coronavirus, and rhinovirus, which are what cause colds and flus. It is much less likely that you will catch a virus from an animal than from another person, but it can happen.
Other disease can come from animals such as mice, rats, cats, dogs, and insects. To 100% avoid getting sick, you would have to make sure you are isolated not only from other people, but also all animals and their waste products (poop, pee, saliva, dander, etc).
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