Common Cold

Common Cold

Common cold is the condition that includes a runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing. Sometimes you feel sore throat, cough, headache or other symptoms. It can be caused by over 200 kind of viruses. Alternatives name for common cold are upper respiratory infection-viral and cold.

Common cold can spread around year, however, it mostly occurs in the winter or during the rainy season in areas where there is no winter. You can catch a common cold by inhaling the virus from someone who sneeze or by touching your nose, eye, or mouth after touching something contaminated by the virus. The disease is most contagious for the first 2-3 days of a cold, and not contagious at all after 7-10 days.

If you got common cold, you will have symptoms as followed here:

Nasal congestion
Sneezing
Runny nose
Low fever or no fever
Irritated nose or scratchy throat
Thicker secretion or perhaps yellow or green within 1 to 3 days or a week.

Depending on virus caused the disease, you may have:

Cough
Decreased appetite
Muscle aches
Headache
Sore throat
Postnasal drip
Some possible complications are bronchitis, ear infection, pneumonia, sinusitis, and worsening of asthma.

Treatment

It is good to get plenty of rest and drinks lots of fluids. Over the counter medication cold remedies may help you feel better. Antibiotics are not recommended since they will not help and may make the situation worse. In addition, thick yellow or green nasal discharge is not a reason for antibiotics, unless it doesn’t get better within 10-14 days that may be a sinus infection or sinusitis. Some new medicines can make runny nose completely clear in a day but it is unclear whether the benefits ok or not. Some alternative treatments are Echinacea, vitamin C, and zinc.