Does a cold virus stay in your system forever?

So I've heard two opinions about viruses:

1. They stay in your system for the rest of your life; they only got into remission.

2. Viruses can be completely eliminated by your immune system.

So do they stay with you, or can they be gotten rid of? Or both, for example: a mono virus goes into remission, but a cold virus can be eliminated.

Both answers to your question are correct, depending on the type of virus. All viruses are intracellular parasites that hijack the cellular machinery to make copies of themselves. Your body defends against viruses by preventing them from entering the interior of cells and by checking to see if cells have been producing virus particles. If they have been producing virus particles, then your body targets the infected cells for destruction. This is how your body clears some virus infections from your body.

However, some viruses are able to insert their genetic code into the infected cell's dna and not produce virus particles immediately. Thus, the virus dna remains in the protected internal environment of the cell and without virus particles, the infected cells cannot be targeted for destruction. HIV, HSV-1, and HSV-2 are examples of this type of virus, called retroviruses.

You build immunity from them forever, but the cold virus is continually evolving, so, while you will never get the same cold twice, you will keep getting colds. The virus is killed by your body.

No, you effectively kill the virus. Its not like the HIV virus that can stay dormant for almost a decade and then start multiplying. Once your system kills it, its gone.

agree with Chris there