How long does a baby’s cold last?
As with adults, it is difficult to make a blanket statement about the duration of illness in babies. This depends essentially on two factors: on the one hand on the child’s immune system and on the other hand on the “aggressiveness” of the causative pathogen. The immune situation of the child correlates more or less with the age of the children.
The younger, the more immature the immune system is and the more frequent and protracted the colds are. It is only in the course of the years of life that the immune system knows the typical pathogens and is able to fight them faster and more efficiently. The aggressiveness of the pathogens mainly depends on how mutable its structure is.
The immune system is only able to fight what it knows. If the pathogen changes again and again, the body’s own defense cells cannot fight it sufficiently. In short: As a rough rule of thumb, one can assume that the cold is usually over within one to two weeks. However, a decrease in any fever that may have occurred can usually be observed a few days before. However, if the illness lasts longer than two weeks, a doctor should be consulted to check the immune system by taking a blood sample.
Causes
The cause of a cold, both in adults and babies, is the common cold virus, which is a group of over 200 different viruses, all of which cause inflammation of the respiratory mucosa. The viruses prefer the 33°C warm and humid climate of our mucous membranes of the respiratory tract to settle down and multiply in the mucous membranes, which in turn makes the person sick and activates his immune system.For infants, an infection with the so-called RSV virus (respiratory syncytial virus) is accompanied by particularly severe infections, which often have to be treated during a hospital stay. The main transmission route of all pathogens is the small infected droplets of liquid that are released into the ambient air when a sick person coughs or sneezes and are then inhaled by other people. In addition, the viruses can adhere to hands or objects and be transmitted from person to person. The time between infection and the onset of symptoms is usually three to five days.
