: Re: Viral Immunity

[Guest guest]

Also: I have lived in a single family house and rarely have taken public transportation for as long as I can remember (most of my adult life). Before starting CRON I had as many colds, flu, stomach viruses as anyone else in spite of it.

It might be interesting to take a poll of our long time CRONIES to assess whether this is the norm or not. Of course it's rather unscientific since we all eat somewhat differently and can't control that.

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From: Francesca Skelton <fskelton@...>

Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 07:15:36 -0400

< >

Subject: Re: [ ] Re: Viral Immunity

Tony: I was the last one to post that I rarely get colds anymore. I do live in a single family house. And I rarely use public transportation. However my husband teaches at town U. - a perfect " viral " incubator (as is any school). He has " brought home " colds and even coughed on me in his sleep. Still no cold. I am happy to report that now that he is eating better, he also now rarely gets colds in spite of lecturing to over 125 students in a lecture hall and having close contact with many students who come to him for guidance, in his office

But we do socialize quite a bit and come into contact with many people via that mode. This past weekend we were at a public event in the midwest and I was unprepared for the very low temperature and cold weather. I had to sit outside for a few hours during this event and was freezing in my short sleeves and summer clothes that I had brought with me. The next day, more of the same. I also got very little sleep. I thought that surely I would come down with a cold. So far I have not.

on 5/8/2006 11:50 PM, citpeks at citpeks@... wrote:

Rodney,

Every time that I read one of those anecdotal reports about people on

CR who rarely get colds, I wonder where and how they live. For the

past several years, at least once a year, I have contracted some virus

serious enough that I develop a fever, and every time I lose a couple

of pounds that I regain after several weeks.

I attribute the infections to the fact that I live in a building that

has 300 apartments where approximately 800 people live. Many of these

people use public transportation in the Washington, D.C. area where

they have a greater chance of catching some transmittable virus that

they can pass along.

I think that someone living in a single family house who stays at home

or commutes to work by private vehicle in a small city has a smaller

chance of getting exposed to a cold virus. The models of avian flu

pandemic that I have seen theorize that the first points of infection

will be the big crowded cities (New York, Washington, San Francisco)

and that the infection will spread along transportation routes.

Quarentines work by isolating infected persons and preventing the

disease from being transmitted.

So, next time that someone on CR reports that they rarely get colds, I

would like to know their particular environmental situation. It is

possible that people who start practicing caloric restriction

coincidentally reduce their social contacts (parties, bars,

restaurants, clubs) thereby reducing their chance of getting sick.

Tony Zamora