How can my wife get the flu and I am fine? Or Vice-versa?

Question

I understand immunity but from my understanding, the influenza virus changes pretty quickly.

How can I be in close proximity to my wife and not catch a flu that puts her down for 3 days? Or when I get a flu where I feel like I’m dying she is fine?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Not every infection resulted in a noticeable illness. It’s called subclinical infection. Basically, your immune system usually knocks down the infection, but something like 25% of the time it’s too slow or inefficient and you get clinical symptoms. The pathogen also varies, but you and your wife can be exposed to the same infectious agent and have different results because of your personal immune response.