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If your antibodies protect you from disease then why do you keep getting colds?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
The cold viruses mutate and change their proteins on their outer coats very easily, rapidly, and often. So if this mutation is not significant enough to bypass our previously developed antibodies, we may not get that same cold virus or a very similar one again, or you may have only a mild type of infection. But the changes often are significant enough for our immune systems to be unable to identify them as the same or similar pathogens, and then we have to undergo the full infectious process and immune response to build new antibodies to match the new antigen (mutated virus).
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoCold or flu antigens are continuously changing so each time you catch it your body has to make new antibodies.
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Can you make antibodies for diseases you have never come in contact with?
Yes. A person comes across many colds in a year or a life time and produces antibodies for each. Babies get many colds in the first years and fewer as they get older because they have made antibodies.
How do antigens benefit the immune system?
Antigens are: proteins, polysaccharides, glycoproteins, or glycolipids. They cause the lymph system to respond by producing antibodies. Each time the body is challenged by an antigen, the stronger the immune system becomes. An infant, at first, gets many colds but as she gets more of them, she will have more antibodies to fight off colds she has had before. She will have fewer colds because she has the antibodies for many of them now.
How are antigens associated with antibodies?
Antibodies are produced in response to antigens. If you get infected with one of the 200 viruses that cause colds, these viruses are antigens and your body will respond by making antibodies. The antibodies will inactivate the virus. It usually takes 7-10 for the process to be complete.
What are some examples of a communicable disease?
cough and colds
Can rhinitis be prevented?
There is no vaccine effective against colds, and infection does not prevent one from getting colds.
Is Ebola genetic?
No, it is a disease that you get from others who are infected. It is similar to how colds are passed on.
Is Ebola inherited?
No, it is a disease that you get from others who are infected. It is similar to how colds are passed on.
Is the common cold a bacterial disease?
No. It is a virus. There are 200 viruses that cause "colds".
Is Ebola genetically inherited?
No, it is a disease that you get from others who are infected. It is similar to how colds are passed on.
What are superstitions about amber?
Amber bead necklaces cure colds or protect against illness.
A sentence for prone?
Dress warmly as you are prone to getting colds.
What disease can be from a virus?
colds,influenza,AIDS,measles,mumps,polio,smallpox,SARS
