Common Cold – Viral Infection

Transcript

A virus is almost like a piece of DNA or RNA from hell. They have a certain genetic composition and a little shell around them, and they’re different from the bacteria. They act differently and cause different infections. They’re not easily treatable. There are some certain viruses we do have treatments for because they can cause life-threatening and serious illnesses. And unfortunately, there are viruses we don’t have good treatments for, but by and large, those that cause the cold, as I say, with the exception of the flu virus or the influenza virus, where we do have oral medication or antiviral medication for that, most of the time, the viruses are going to resolve on their own and they’ll do so without problems. There are cases where people cannot fight infection very well. They’re called immunocompromised people. They may have more problems with the virus because their immune system is not set up to handle it as well.