When it comes to contracting respiratory viruses, it’s certain that avoidance and good hygiene are the most essential tools for prevention, and nothing can replace that. It’s also almost universally accepted that both the pathogen virulence and the health of the individual influence susceptibility to illness and disease severity.
Immune health and resilience depend on many factors, and while each infectious disease is different, in many cases a person’s total burden of inflammation probably plays a role in susceptibility. Inflammation is involved in most chronic diseases, and accumulated stress, whether it’s physical or emotional stress, likely exacerbates it.