Cold Relapse Delays Next Barry Lopez Post

I’m surrendering to the third relapse of the cold I’ve been suffering from.  Once before, years ago, I had a cold like this: Just when I’m really feeling better and the cold seems to be on the run, here comes a new onslaught.  Can’t help wondering why.  My current theory is that this particular rhinovirus is able to mutate enough to evade my antibodies just when they get the upper hand.

         For the virus, the whole point of infecting me is to use cells of my respiratory tract to reproduce.  For my immune system, the whole point of forming antibodies and/or killer T-cells is to match the shape of the virus and thereby lock onto it, holding it prisoner until other immune cells can come and take in the virus and digest it.

         If a virus can mutate so as to change something about its shape, it may be harder for my immune cells to match it, and then there’s a wait until new matches develop.  Hopefully there comes a time when my immune cells have matched the virus’s whole portfolio!

         Once that happens, I’ll get on with my series of posts about the Barry Lopez essay on the inner architecture of the human mind.