|
|
 Originally Posted by OngBonga
I get the distinction boost is making. But I also get poop's point. The common cold is always caused by a virus. But it's worth pointing out the common cold itself is not a virus, it is an infection, caused by a virus (rhinovirus or coronavirus). Flu is an infection, also caused by a virus (influenza). Pneumonia is an infection with multiple causes. You don't catch pneumonia, but neither do you catch a cold or flu. You catch a virus, and that in turn causes an infection.
So it does seem like it's a matter of semantics.
I tihink so, yes.
The thing is, this is effectively a strain of the common cold that is much, much more serious than the other >100 strains of the cold. Just like the Spanish Flu was a mutation of the 'flu that was much more deadly. Whether you call one a 'cold' or a 'flu' is somewhat irrelevant - I'd much rather have some wimpy kind of rhinovirus that gives me a runny nose for 3-4 days than CV that could put me on life support, and weakens me to the point I need a ventilator. I don't really care about semantics at that point.
For you history buffs: SF was ass-kicking bad. People showed symptoms on day 1 and died on day 3. And not just old people, a lot of the deaths were young people who were otherwise in perfect health; it basically killed by tricking the immune system into killing everything, good cells, virus cels it didn't care. My great-grandfather was in his 40s; fine one day, sick the next, dead the day after that. And this wasn't uncommon. My grandpa wrote it all down.
I've lived 51 years and have never seen anything like this. But my grandparents saw WWI, SF, the Great Depression, and WWII. We'll get through this shit, and we'll carry on.
I always wondered why my grandpa was always so unflappable about everything - now I think I know. His attitude was always "Oh, life's bad? You pussy, you ain't seen nothin'"
|
Reply With Quote
