How common is the common cold? People in the U.S. suffer a billion colds per year!
Adults average 2-3 colds per year; children 6-10. Not generally dangerous, but you can feel like you’ve been hit by a truck—i.e., wiped out, tired, with sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, cough, discomfort, sneezing, headaches, and body aches. Fever is more common in children, likely to be low-grade in adults.
Cold symptoms will go away on their own over time. Sleep helps boost the immune system and can help you recover from a cold more quickly—assuming you’re able to sleep when you have a cold. For three days, I slept in a recliner, about 20 hours a day. I gather elevating the head generally helps sleep.
And how long will this misery last? Generally 3-10 days. (However, my current cold has hung on for two weeks, albeit with diminished symptoms. Oh, sigh.)
Contrary to popular belief, cold weather or getting chilled does not cause a cold, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Yes, colds are more common in fall and winter, but you can get a cold any time of year. Seasonal frequency may be related more to seasonal activities, such as returning to school or spending more time indoors.
Cold Research
So why do we call it a cold anyway? The name “cold” came into use in England in the 1500s, due to the similarity between its symptoms and those of exposure to cold weather. But it’s much older than that! Cold symptoms and treatment are described in the Egyptian Ebers papyrus, the oldest existing medical text, written before the 16th century BCE.
In 1956, Harvard Hospital of Salisbury and the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom set up the Common Cold Unit (CCU). Researchers there discovered the rhinovirus in 1956. The only successful treatment the unit discovered, in 1987, for the prevention and treatment of rhinovirus colds was zinc gluconate lozenges. Two years after making this discovery, the CCU closed, in 1989.
Rhinoviruses cause an estimated 30-35% of all adult colds. Scientists had previously identified 99 distinct rhinovirus types. Recently, however, researchers have detected a number of unknown types in patients with severe flu-like illnesses. Research indicates that there may be up to 4 different species of rhinovirus.
So, 65-70% of colds (upper respiratory infections) are not caused by a rhinovirus, meaning zinc isn’t a cure-all. Other respiratory viruses that can cause colds in the United States include common human coronaviruses, parainfluenza viruses, adenoviruses, enteroviruses (including EV-D68), and human metapneumovirus. Scientists know of more than 200 different viruses that cause the symptoms of the common cold.
Cold Complications
All colds risk complications beyond the symptoms listed above.
Mild to moderate complications:
- Middle ear infections (infection behind the ear drum)
- Sinus infections
Potentially severe complications:
- Asthma attacks (wheezing, difficulty breathing)
- Bronchiolitis (infection of the small airways)
- Bronchitis (infection of the large airways)
- Pneumonia (infection of the lungs)
- Worsening of chronic medical conditions (for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure)
SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), influenza virus (the virus that causes flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can also cause cold-like symptoms but do not cause colds. These respiratory viruses are more likely to cause severe illness, hospitalization or death, especially among groups at increased risk: infants, older adults, or those with underlying medical conditions or weakened immune systems.
If you have cold-like symptoms and suspect you have COVID- 19 or flu, take a COVID-19 test. This is especially important if you’re at higher risk for severe illness. Antiviral treatments are available for COVID-19 and flu and work best when started very soon after symptoms begin.
Cold, Hard Facts
I found the following “interesting facts” about colds at Ago Virax.
- There are around 100 known serotypes of HRV, meaning that a vaccine cannot be made … and that we have the potential to be infected around 100 times by this virus alone. Plus, mutations cause a thus-far eternal number of new strains of the virus.
- Rhinoviruses can survive for three hours outside of the body, and can sometimes live for up to 48 hours on touchable surfaces, infesting everything from door knobs and subway poles to shopping carts and light switches.
- A single cold virus can have 16 million offspring within the course of a day.
- Research suggests people are most contagious when symptoms are at their worst. However, sick people can also infect others even before symptoms develop.
- The lower the humidity, the more moisture evaporates from sneeze and cough droplets, and the further the germs can travel. Dry air also dries out the mucous lining in our nasal passages, weakening an important protective barrier. Both of these contribute to the increase in colds during cold, dry weather.
- Vitamin C won’t cure a cold. But, according to the latest scientific research, taking at least 0.2 grams of vitamin C every day may decrease the duration of a cold by a day or two.
- The single best way to avoid getting a cold, aside from becoming a hermit, is to wash your hands. A lot. Use soap and wash them in water for 20 seconds. It’s cheap and easy and more effective than alcohol-based hand sanitizers. However, if you don’t have soap and water, sanitizers will still do the job.
- Infected people spread colds by touching their eyes, nose, and (to a lesser extent) mouth and then touching communal surfaces like doorknobs or counters.
- Virus-harboring droplets can hang in the air for a few seconds after an infected person sneezes or coughs, waiting to infect the unwary.
- While a person’s breath can travel one meter per second, droplets from a sneeze can travel at about 160 kilometers per hour.
- A single sneeze can spray 100,000 germs into the air … which is why you should keep 6 feet of distance from a sneezing sick person.
Cold Comfort
And finally, a bit of good news: most cold viruses are not spread by saliva. Thus, kissing itself is not likely to transmit the common cold. (Unfortunately, if you’re close enough to be kissing, you are probably close enough to succumb.)
Bottom Line: There’s no vaccine for the common cold, and no known cure. If it truly is a common cold, prepare to just suffer through it!