My understanding is that all the stuff that sucks about a cold – runny nose, cough, sore throat etc – comes not from the cold itself, but the body’s immune system working to kick it out. What would actually happen inside you if a cold was just allowed to get on with it without the immune system intervening? Is it deadly?
In: Biology
A virus reproduces by injecting itself into a cell, forcing that cell to make a shitton of copies of the virus, and then bursting the cell to release the copies. You wouldn’t last long at all without an immune system. My gut reaction is that *any* virus would be fatal in that case.
There are still people who have poorly functioning immune systems. We call them “immunocompromised” and it’s very dangerous if they get sick.
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