Got Drenched, Caught a Cold

A cold is caused by a virus. We know that. Why then do people catch a cold right after they get drenched in the rain? That happens far too often to be a coincidence. What is going on?

 

The nose has a lining that traps anything that tries to enter, including that virus, in the mucus. Which is then swept backward to the throat, swallowed (yuck!), reaches the stomach, where the extremely powerful acid (in the stomach) destroys it. A conveyor belt system that never stops.

 

Cold air slows down that conveyor belt. The tiny cilia hair that sweep mucus beat slower, so the mucus gets thicker. The trapped virus gets to sit there longer, giving it slightly more time to occasionally escape and infect.

 

Now add rain to the equation. Cold + wet = temperature of the nose is lowered further. The blood vessels in the nose constrict to conserve heat. The now narrowed “pipe” means fewer immune cells arrive in the same time.

 

To sum it up, when you get drenched, that first line of defense in the nose is “understaffed, undersupplied and moving in slow motion”, i.e., much less effective than it normally is.

 

Into this mix, add the behavioral piece. If it rains, everyone goes indoors. Windows get shut. It’s more crowded. Poor ventilation. All of which further increases the chance of catching that cold.

 

Quite fascinating, when you understand the entire setup and all the factors that involved.

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