1. Viruses – the smallest culprits
Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses. A single virus measures about 20 nanometers – only 50,000 together would make one millimeter. The tiny creatures travel particularly efficiently by air from person to person, via droplet infection: With every sneeze or cough, a sick person throws out countless pathogens. They are also passed on with the hands
2. Viruses as chameleons: Why no vaccine protects against colds
Medicine works wonders, but it doesn’t manage to prevent a nasty cold. This is partly due to the fact that 15 to 20 new types of rhinovirus (see fact no. 1) appear each season – much more than the dangerous real flu virus. Developing so many vaccines is currently overtaxing medicine. In addition, cold viruses are constantly changing their surface and always look different to our immune system. It doesn’t recognize “old friends” and has to regroup against them every time.
3. dr Knigge’s rule of conduct
“Hatschi!” resounds the colleague. “Health,” it used to echo back collectively. That has changed: According to the new rules of conduct, the person who sneezes apologizes afterwards – and those around them simply nod in a friendly manner.
4. Tissues aren’t even 90 years old
For a long time, sniffling people had to get by without tools because the production of woven fabrics was so laborious. The first handkerchiefs appeared around the year 1300, but only for the rich. Only with the invention of the mechanical loom in the 18th century could everyone afford a handkerchief. And from 1929 the paper handkerchief began its triumphal march.
5. Colds in figures On
average, every German catches a cold two to four times a year – children even up to seven times. Statistically, a 75-year-old has survived around 300 flu infections in the course of his life. Since the symptoms last six to seven days, we spend a good four years of our lives with coughs, stuffy noses, headaches and body aches. In 80 percent of those affected, the infection is uncomplicated. The remaining 20 percent have actually caught the flu and some of them only fully recovered five weeks after the outbreak of the flu.
