Where did this germ come from?

[capri0mni]

I have no idea where I caught this thing from... I'm functionally housebound, and the only person I come in contact with regularly is my aide.

She was down with a cold over a week ago (maybe two weeks), and I didn't catch any of her symptoms then, and my symptoms (Started with a sudden sore throat Friday morning, and runny nose, both of which quickly diminished, but were followed fever and headache soon after) are different from hers, anyway...

I did get a new delivery by UPS earlier in the week, which had been sitting in my room for a few days. And the package finally opened the Thursday night before bed...

I'm wondering if I could have caught something from an overworked warehouse employee who sneezed their germs all over the contents as they taped up the box... Although the box was not airtight, the packaging inside the box was.

Is't possible?

(I seem to have shed my "Ugh!" icon... If I had the energy, I'd make a new one. But my head feels like it's stuffed with shredded, soggy cardboard.)

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Sure that's possible. The usual cold and flu Virii can survive months on a favourable surface, and days even on most usual ones. [like cardboard] Heck, they'll happily survive for quite some time in the vacuum of space exposed to solar radiation.

Germaphobes look less crazy the more you read about it.

[kellan_the_tabby]

awww plague, no :/

[igenlode]

Have you heard of the parcel of patterns that spread the Plague from London to the village of Eyam? :-(

[butterflydreaming]

I hope you feel better quickly! This has been a bad year for cold/flu. I just saw a note on the news comparing it to 2008 (iirc) and 2014 for severity. I myself haven't been 100% since something like September, when I lost my voice. Since then the sniffles or chest congestion keeps low-key coming back. (Bleh!) But, I know I'm not taking the care of myself that I should, and I'm under a lot of yucky stress.

So I'm wishing you a cozy and comfortable recuperation and return to feeling yourself again. What is your go-to comfort "thing" when you're sick? For me it's hot chamomile tea and snuggling into a sofa with the sun coming through a window.

As I commented above, I think the short time from opening the package to symptoms showing may indicate that the package isn't the source. But since cold & flu type virus can hang out for a long time before taking hold, I would guess that it could have come in on anything, such as recently purchased sundries.

[meridian_rose]

Agh germs are sneaky and evil! I hope you start feeling better soon!