Catching the Common Cold...

Recently I've been hit by a piercing bullet: one that has left me coughing and sputtering - er - sniffling for air. This bullet was a virus, emanating either from a long sleep somewhere in my body, or from a gust of breath delivered directly to my face from someone very careless. So, naturally, I've had plenty of time to ponder - what was it that caused my cold?

For many people, the answer to this is more than obvious. Someone was carrying the virus before me and transmitted it, as I've already said, directly (and very rudely) through either my eyes, mouth or nose. I'm not trying to argue with that, because I know that that was in fact the original cause.

My main area of curiousity is: Did the cold start as an immediate result of coming into direct contact with someone infected, or was it due to my being dressed too lightly as to expose my body to too severe a cold (temperature) for too long, giving the viruses already settled in my body an advantage because of a weakened immune system

Phew, that was a long question. Hopefully still understandable. Well, I guess I'll try to keep my sentences a bit shorter as I debate the aforementioned issue.

These questions arose out of something said by my mother today after I mentioned an article published on Yahoo, arguing for the former possibility stated in my question (that one becomes affected with the common cold due to direct exposure to someone infected, NOT from the body being cold for too long). This article can be read at http://health.yahoo.com/experts/childhealth/2134/colds-and-the-cold. To summarize, the writer states that although being in the cold for a very long time can possibly weaken the immune system, the cold is usually not a significant factor in wether or not one actually becomes sick.

According to my Mom, there has been an ongoing debate about whether or not this is really true. She believes that cold weather is in fact a significant factor in causing the common cold. Generally I trust my Mom on issues like this. In this case, I'm not sure what or whom to believe. I googled "cold weather causes common cold", and the results I found supported only the argument of the yahoo article.

One of my immediate thoughts is, maybe the second belief (that the common cold can in fact be induced due to cold weather - note, though, that I am not saying that a virus "magically appears" due to the weather, I am only wondering wether or not cold weather can be a significant factor in starting a cold) is a Russian thing. I mean, my parents come from Russia - or, rather, the former Soviet Union. According to my parents, colds were frequent there back then (which was about 12 years ago). Supposing, for a minute, that the second possibility were true, this would not be a big surprise considering Russia's climate and all. Still, my parents have done a very good job, generally, in protecting me from and aiding me (rather, my immune system) in defeating colds. And most of the websites that are firm believers of the 1st possibility are American-based. So, who is right and who is wrong? Does this mean I should stop dressing in 30 layers during the winter (don't worry, I'm joking... but of course, every winter brings its surprises, so one never knows XD)? Or that I should dress even more warmly (if this is possible)? The answer to these questions is pretty important, I think. After all, it could diminish that amount of colds I and all people have to suffer through every year, which is not little I can tell you. Children suffer 3-8 colds a year on average , according to http://www.drgreene.com/21_1053.html, and adults 2-4, according to http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/cold.htm.

I'm unfortunate enough to say that I was one of those unlucky children who suffered in the higher range of average colds/year. Of course, being older now, the recurrence of these colds diminishes slightly year by year. But not by much, and I still get more than enough of stuffy noses during the night that give me temporary insomnia.

My point is, I think finding the answer to the question of whether or not colds can be started due to cold weather is pretty damn important. I'd be great if I could have some feedback on the said above - from experienced doctors and anyone who empathizes.