The original post: /r/askscience by /u/The_first_Ezookiel on 2024-10-27 11:01:22.

When I get a cold/flu it almost invariably starts with a sore throat for 1-2 days Then the snotty nose for 1-2 days Then a cough for 1-2 weeks.

How does the one virus affect such different parts of the body in so many different ways, and they don’t seem to be cumulative - there’s perhaps a short crossover period as one symptom ends and the other starts - but each symptom seems to finish up when the next one starts.

It’s like 3 or 4 totally different illness reactions one after the other.

“Why is it so?” (Julius Sumner Miller)