by Simon J. Green

Created on: February 08, 2011   Last Updated: September 18, 2011

Everyone will get a cold. Can you imagine the lucky person who goes through life avoiding one? They'd surely end up dying a horrible death as payment for such luck. A cold is simply a viral infection of the upper respiratory system. As your trusty immune system kicks in and goes to war, the resulting symptoms are most commonly a runny nose, a cough, headaches, fever and general lethargy. In the western first world, a cold is considered a minor threat. Our collection of medical knowledge and antibiotics (these don't stop a cold, but reduce possible secondary complications), anti-inflammatory and other symptom-treating drugs reign in the effects of a cold. It should be noted that treatments of the common cold don't actually stop the infection, but merely reduce the symptoms. As the body does its job, a few days rest will usually clear that pesky invader.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects, among other things, the lungs and respiratory system. The interior of our lungs is coated in mucous, a naturally sticky substance that catches nasty particles and bugs we inhale. The mucous holds those impurities so that our immune system can nullify them, keeping us healthy. Mucous, despite it's yuckiness, is good for us. In a person with cystic fibrosis, the mucous is made thicker and stickier due to an imbalance in salts (at its most basic level, CF is a genetic mutation that leaves cells unable to maintain a correct chloride balance through ion channels, wreaking havoc all over the body). The mucous traps the impurities, but it doesn't move as easy, so it gets stuck. A breeding ground for bacteria and viruses forms, as fighting cells struggle to penetrate the hideous blobs of contaminant. Infection spreads.

Now imagine how much of an effect the common cold can have on such a set of lungs suffering reduced capacity from cystic fibrosis. A patient with CF should spend some time each day using physiotherapy techniques to cough up that sticky mucous. When a cold comes to town, it becomes so much more imperative that the mucous is removed. The replicating virus cells of the common cold can thrive in the musty confines of a CF lung. Pneumonia, severe chest infection and lung scarring can crop up if a patient or the parents of a CF patient don't act diligently in getting up the nastiness from within. Generally, expect a cold to last three times as long in a CF patient than it does in a regular person.

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