My girlfriend got back from thr Dr. today, sore throat, earache, slight fever, was told she has a viral infection, and it should go away in a few days. Are viral infections something I should stay away from, or is the the bacterial ones that can rub off on others. Thanks
Whether you can catch it or not depends on which virus it is and the method of transmission. There are contagious bacteria, contagious viruses, contagious protozoans, etc. The doctor most likely would have told her if it was a contagious infection.
It would seem to me any pathogenic virus is by definition contagious. It has to have some way to travel to new hosts or it won’t last long as a life form (let’s not nitpick whether a virus can be defined as ‘alive’). That said there are different paths infections generally have to follow. For example HIV cannot be tranmitted via the air. The flu on the other hand can travel through the air.
The doctor may simply not have bothered with special warnings if the disease is something common and not to be especially feared. People with colds or the flu go to work, live closely with family, fly…whatever. In some respects this is even healthy as mild exposure to many pathogens can help your body build an immunity. Sort of like self-vaccinating.
Viral load is an issue—how much of the virions need to get into your system before you become ill. Wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, have her cover her mouth and nose when sneezing and dispose of used tissues promptly. You can become infected with both bacteria and viruses, also by spores and funguses, it just depends if there microbes breech your defenses in enough load to cause you disease. You can most likely care for her until she kicks whatever’s got to her without fear of becoming ill yourself if you keep it clean as mentioned above.
Cyn RN
It’s possible its too late already. You already have whatever she has and either have yet to show symptoms or have already successfully defeated the virus. IIRC different viruses and bacteria and such have different infectious windows in which the host is most infectious to those around them. In some cases this can be before symptoms show (if anyone knows the straight dope on that I’d like to know for certain). Regardless I suspect you kissed your girlfriend sometime while she was infectious which is certainly a good way to transmit many (but not all) nasty things that make you sick.