For years, Melanie Musson’s friends have marveled at her superpower: staying healthy no matter what germs are making the rounds. Colds and flu felled plenty of Musson’s dormmates in college, but the viruses always seemed to pass her by. “I never got sick once,” she says. “I got about five hours of sleep a night, I finished school in three years, and I worked 30 hours a week throughout. My best friends labeled me ‘the machine.’ ”
Musson’s ironclad immune system also set her apart at her first job. While she was working at an assisted living facility, her co-workers succumbed to a stomach virus that was running rampant. Undaunted, Musson offered to cover their shifts. “There I was, the brand-new employee, getting as much overtime as I wanted. I wasn’t worried that I’d catch [the virus], because it just doesn’t happen.”
While the rest of us battle seasonal flu, chronic allergies, and back-to-back wintertime colds, Musson and other immune masters glide through with scarcely a sniffle — something University of Pittsburgh immunologist John Mellors sees all the time. “People get exposed to the same virus, the same dose, even the same source. One gets very sick, and the other doesn’t.”
