If you went into space with a cold, would the virus die?

Question: If you went into space with a cold, would the virus die?
- Keywords:
  cold,
  disease,
  virus
Asked by igloo23 to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by ramz555.
- Adam Stevens answered on 14 Mar 2012:
  
  The virus would last as long as you did!
- Catherine Rix answered on 14 Mar 2012:
  
  Scientists disagree about whether viruses are alive in the first place. They need cells from other living things in order to reproduce so according to some definitions of life they aren’t alive anyway. But Adam is right, the virus can survive as long as it can use your cells to replicate itself. You would probably be very unpopular with the other astronauts as they would all catch your cold too! Infact astronauts are screened very carefully for infections before they are allowed to go on a mission, it would be bad to get sick in space!
- Karen Masters answered on 14 Mar 2012:
  
  I don’t think so as long as you didn’t die. I think it would survive as long as your immune system let it. But I actually don’t know very much about how viruses work.
- Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:
  
  No! Viruses aren’t actually alive – they’re just bits of DNA in a shell, that only activate when they find a cell to make them work. So as long as you are alive, the virus will be alive.
  
  Some scientists even think there might be alien viruses floating around in space, or that we got our viruses from outer space in the first place!

Question: If you went into space with a cold, would the virus die?

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