Are persons with diabetes more susceptible to colds or more adversly affected by them?

I head heard that it was especially important for someone with diabetes to get a flu shot. Here’s why.

A normal/healthy immune system is fairly well equipped to handle the everyday cold and flu. At anytime the immune system is compromised by any other invader or illness attack the immune system is engaged in battling the primary attacker as in diabetes in your case and that specifies a specific cytokine response from the immune system. This response is specific to the diabetes and may then leave a certain vulnerability open to other virus and or bacteria to wage a whole other war. Often when the immune system is further attacked by secondary infections, it can set off a vicious cytokine response immune system that sends this cytokine response into overdrive which can essentially cause the immune system to over respond causing the lungs to flood and internal hemorrhaging to bring upon the ultimate despise. Secondary infections are a major cause of death amongst the elderly and immunologically compromised. As @ibstubro suggests the flu shot and pneumo vac is a must for those who are faced with life long primary illnesses.

@Cruiser, did you mean “ultimate demise”?

@Jeruba Ultimately I did!

Cold symptoms are actually caused not by the virus (which does very little damage to cells), but by the inflammation response of the body’s immune system. In other words, the more robust the immune system’s response to the infection, the worse the cold symptoms will be.

Someone with a compromised immune system, though, will be more susceptible to secondary infections (such as bronchitis, sinus infection or pneumonia) that can develop as a result of the congestion that comes along with the cold. In terms of potential bodily damage, these are far more serious than the cold itself.