Why isn’t our immune systems completely immune to things like the common cold?

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I mean common cold has been around for a long time. How has the immune system not learned how to fight it?

In: Biology

26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

As I understand it, the virus mutates and develops into different strains, which differ in very small, basically cosmetic ways but make it impossible for the body’s immune system to identify it and respond correctly, so it treats it like an entirely new disease.

It’s kind of like if you own a shop. Someone keeps shoplifting from you. You eventually catch them and put up a poster with their face on it so all your staff know to not let them in, but then they come back with comedy glasses and a fake moustache and no one recognises them at first.

Eventually your staff realise, but not until after they steal a few things.

This is an incredibly oversimplified explanation, I’m sure someone else can do a better job.

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