Common Cold Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Last updated by Peer reviewed by Dr Colin Tidy, MRCGP
Last updated Meets Patient’s editorial guidelines

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This article is for Medical Professionals

Professional Reference articles are designed for health professionals to use. They are written by UK doctors and based on research evidence, UK and European Guidelines. You may find the Common Cold article more useful, or one of our other health articles.

Read COVID-19 guidance from NICE

Treatment of almost all medical conditions has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. NICE has issued rapid update guidelines in relation to many of these. This guidance is changing frequently. Please visit https://www.nice.org.uk/covid-19 to see if there is temporary guidance issued by NICE in relation to the management of this condition, which may vary from the information given below.

Synonym: coryza

The common cold is an acute, self-limiting, viral inflammation of the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract. It causes nasal discharge and congestion, sneezing, a sore throat and a cough. The common cold actually describes an array of similar conditions caused by a vast number of different viruses. It is most often caused by infection with rhinoviruses (50-80%) and coronaviruses[1] - a COVID-19 diagnosis might be considered where there is fever, loss of taste or smell, and a cough. It may also be due to infection by influenza viruses, parainfluenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, enteroviruses and adenovirus.

Routes of transmission vary between viruses but include:

  • Inhalation of airborne respiratory droplets from people infected with the virus.
  • Direct contact with infectious secretions. Some viruses may be spread by hand or skin contact.

Common cold transmission most commonly occurs in the home, in schools and in daycare centres. The main reservoir of viruses is in young children. This is because they are more vulnerable to infection, as they have not yet developed the relevant antibodies, they shed the virus for longer following infection and they are in close contact with others.

  • Adults have an average of two to three colds a year. Children have an average of five to six colds a year. Young children in nursery schools may average up to twelve colds per year.
  • It should be noted that the introduction of non-pharmacological interventions for control of COVID-19 spread has been associated with a lower rate of other respiratory viruses across Europe.[2]
  • Adults who are in contact with young children have more colds than those who are not.
  • Annual epidemics occur within the colder months in temperate climates and during the rainy season in the tropics.
  • There are over 200 viruses which cause colds; many people with cold symptoms are found to be infected with several viruses at the same time.
  • The most frequent symptoms of the common cold are nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, sneezing, sore throat, general malaise and cough. Hoarseness, loss of taste and smell, mild burning of the eyes and a feeling of pressure in the ears or sinuses, due to obstruction and/or mucosal swelling, may also occur. Headache and fever tend to be less common symptoms.
  • Cough is associated with 30% of colds and tends to start on about the fourth or fifth day when nasal symptoms decrease.
  • There may be a mild increase in body temperature. Infants and young children are more likely to develop higher temperatures.
  • In infants there may be irritability, snuffles resulting in difficulty feeding, and diarrhoea. Diagnosis may be difficult and fever can be the main symptom during the early part of the illness.

Adults

  • Allergic rhinitis: nasal itching, sneezing, watery rhinorrhoea, and nasal obstruction. It is also often accompanied by itchy, watery eyes. It can be perennial, seasonal, or due to occupational exposure.
  • Non-allergic rhinitis: presents with chronic nasal symptoms.
  • Pharyngitis: acute pharyngitis is caused by a variety of organisms, including the adenoviruses and Streptococcus pyogenes. This pharyngitis is often more severe than the mild-to-moderate pharyngeal discomfort in the common cold.
  • Influenza: initially presents with systemic symptoms, including fever, rigors, headaches, myalgia, malaise and anorexia.
  • Infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever): presents with persistent severe sore throat, fever, cervical lymphadenopathy and malaise; it is particularly common in teenagers and young adults.
  • Whooping cough: the cough may develop later but is characteristic and is much more severe than that associated with the common cold.

Children

  • In addition to the above list, consider a foreign body in the nose. The discharge is unilateral, purulent, foul-smelling and blood-stained.

Infants

See also the separate Ill and Feverish Child article.

General advice

  • Explain that there are no drugs of proven benefit for the prophylaxis or treatment of the common cold, although many things have been suggested. Medical management is centred around providing symptomatic relief.
  • Provide advice about the usual natural history of the illness and average total length of illness. (Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) state the average total length of illness is 7-10 days for sore throat[3] and 3-4 weeks for associated cough.[4] One systematic review showed 90% of children are better within 15 days.)[5]
  • Explain that antibiotic treatment of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) does not alter the clinical outcome of the illness or prevent further complications.[6] Explain that antibiotics may also have side-effects - eg, diarrhoea, vomiting and rash.
  • Ensure adequate fluid intake. (There are no systematic reviews to recommend or not recommend the traditional advice of increasing fluid intake.)[7]
  • Address any underlying concerns. Taking the time to educate people that colds are self-limiting and have no specific curative treatment may reduce anxiety and prevent unnecessary visits to the doctor in the future.
  • Advise adequate rest but that there is usually no need to take time off school and work.
  • Advise hygiene measures to reduce spread: frequent hand-washing, avoiding sharing towels and toys, etc.
  • Advise about self-care and over-the-counter measures which may help with symptoms (see below).

Self-care and over-the-counter options for symptom control

Some people may get relief from one or more of the following:

  • Steam inhalation - eg, by sitting in the bathroom while running a hot shower. (Beware of the risk of scalding, particularly in young children; also, evidence of effectiveness is limited.)[8]
  • Vapour rubs applied to the back or chest.
  • Gargling with salt water.
  • Sucking boiled sweets or sore-throat lozenges.
  • Nasal drops (sodium chloride 0.9%) for nasal congestion. These may be useful for infants who are having difficulty feeding.
  • Over-the-counter analgesia. Paracetamol and/or ibuprofen may be helpful for sore throats, headaches or temperatures. Advise these are only used in children under the age of 5 years who have a fever or are distressed.
  • Intranasal decongestants (short-term use only)
  • Systemic decongestants, often combined with analgesics in over-the-counter preparations for the common cold. These have a very small and very short-term benefit.
  • Cough medicines. (Currently there is no good evidence for or against their effectiveness.)[9]

Editor's note

Dr Krishna Vakharia, 21st February 2024
MHRA safety review of medicines containing pseudoephedrine[10]
There have been very rare reports of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) associated with pseudoephedrine.
Following a review by MHRA - the safety information of all pseudoephedrine-containing medicines will be updated to provide clearer descriptions of these risks and potential risk factors for these conditions for both patients and healthcare professionals.
PRES - also known as reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS). This is a rare condition in which parts of the brain are affected by swelling - usually as a result of an underlying cause. Symptoms include headache, changes in vision, and seizures, with some developing other neurological symptoms such as confusion or weakness of one or more limbs. Most patients fully recover.
RCVS - is a neurological disorder. There is a sudden onset of severe headache associated with narrowing of the intracranial blood vessels. On brain imaging the narrowing of the blood vessels can look similar to a “string of beads”. Very rarely, RCVS can present as a medical emergency with strokes (ischaemic strokes or bleed), seizure or as brain oedema. Usually, the narrowing resolves by itself - reversible - within three months, and most patients fully recover.
MHRA is reminding health professionals that:
  • Pseudoephedrine is for short term use only and should only be used to relieve symptoms of nasal and sinus congestion in colds, flu, and allergies.
  • No one should take pseudoephedrine if they have hypertension or hypertension not controlled by their medicines, or if they have severe acute or chronic kidney disease or kidney failure.
  • Patients who develop symptoms of PRES and RCVS should stop taking pseudoephedrine immediately and seek urgent medical attention. These include severe headache that develops very quickly or suddenly feeling sick or vomiting, confusion or experiencing seizures or changes in vison.
For context- there have been 4 Yellow card reports on this to date- out of 4 million packets sold in 2022.

The 'wet' or 'dry' classification of cough should be discontinued.[11] Cough counting is now recognised as the gold standard for assessing antitussive activity by the US Food and Drug Administration, but because it is a recent innovation, very few of the currently available cough medicines have been assessed using this methodology. This new model and way of working holds the promise to make assessment of cough easier than previously and, importantly, is evidence-based.

Evidence does NOT currently support the use of the following:

  • Intranasal steroids.[12]
  • Antihistamines, but may be beneficial when combined with decongestants.[13]
  • Echinacea.[14]
  • Vitamin C.[15]
  • Zinc.[16]
  • Chinese herbal medicines (data are lacking).[17]
  • Garlic.[18]

Over-the-counter treatments for children under the age of 6 years

Over-the-counter cough and cold measures should not be used in children under the age of 6 years. A warm drink containing honey and lemon may be used, or simple cough medicines containing honey, lemon or glycerine. There is no strong evidence for the effectiveness of honey for cough but it seems to be more effective than no treatment.[19] However, honey is not recommended for babies aged under 1 year because of a theoretical risk of infant botulism.

In 2009, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advised that cough and cold remedies containing the following ingredients should NOT be used in children under the age of 6 years, as the risk-benefit balance is unfavourable:[20]

  • Antitussives (dextromethorphan and pholcodine).
  • Expectorants (guaifenesin and ipecacuanha).
  • Nasal decongestants (ephedrine, oxymetazoline, phenylephrine, pseudoephedrine, and xylometazoline).
  • Antihistamines (brompheniramine, chlorphenamine, diphenhydramine, doxylamine, promethazine, and triprolidine).

Over the age of 6 years, these medications may be used if other self-care measures have not eased symptoms, and for a maximum of five days, and providing only one cold remedy is used at a time.

Follow-up

Advise people to return if their symptoms are worsening, or if they have not improved after two weeks. For young children and babies, advise early review if they are not feeding, if there are any symptoms of dehydration, if they have a persistent fever or if they have any difficulty breathing. Consider arranging a review for people at high risk of complication (eg, significant comorbidity, immunosuppression) and advise them to attend urgently if their condition worsens.

Complications with the common cold are usually due to viral spread, or secondary bacterial infection. They are more likely in:

Common complications include:

  • In the majority, the common cold is a mild, self-limiting illness.
  • The common cold usually lasts around a week in adults and 10-14 days in children.
  • In 90% of children, symptoms have resolved by 15 days.[5]
  • Cigarette smokers are likely to have a more severe and more prolonged illness than non-smokers and are significantly more likely to develop a chest infection as a complication.
  • People with COPD who have a rhinovirus infection are more likely to have a longer duration of illness, a more severe illness and to cough for longer afterwards than those without lung disease.[21]
  • Preventing the spread of the common cold is very difficult but simple measures to prevent the spread of acute respiratory infections, such as hand washing (especially around younger children), are thought to be moderately effective.[22] The role of mask wearing is less clear.
  • The effectiveness of adding virucidals or antiseptics to normal handwashing to decrease transmission remains uncertain and hasn't been recently updated.[23]
  • People with colds should also avoid close contact (eg, hugging, kissing) and avoid sharing towels and flannels. Children should be discouraged from sharing toys belonging to a child with a cold.
  • Some work has been done on looking for a vaccine for the common cold but this is difficult because of the antigenic variability of the cold viruses and the numerous other indistinguishable infective agents.[24]

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Further reading and references

  1. Common cold; NICE CKS, February 2022 (UK access only)

  2. van Summeren J, Meijer A, Aspelund G, et al; Low levels of respiratory syncytial virus activity in Europe during the 2020/21 season: what can we expect in the coming summer and autumn/winter? Euro Surveill. 2021 Jul26(29). doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.29.2100639.

  3. Sore throat (acute): antimicrobial prescribing; NICE Guideline (January 2018)

  4. Cough (acute): antimicrobial prescribing; NICE Guidance (February 2019)

  5. Thompson M, Vodicka TA, Blair PS, et al; Duration of symptoms of respiratory tract infections in children: systematic review. BMJ. 2013 Dec 11347:f7027. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f7027.

  6. Antimicrobial stewardship: changing risk-related behaviours in the general population; NICE Guidance (Jan 2017)

  7. Guppy MP, Mickan SM, Del Mar CB, et al; Advising patients to increase fluid intake for treating acute respiratory infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Feb 16(2):CD004419. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004419.pub3.

  8. Singh M, Singh M, Jaiswal N, et al; Heated, humidified air for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Aug 298:CD001728. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001728.pub6.

  9. Smith SM, Schroeder K, Fahey T; Over-the-counter (OTC) medications for acute cough in children and adults in community settings. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Nov 2411:CD001831. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001831.pub5.

  10. Update on MHRA safety review of medicines containing pseudoephedrine; Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, GOV.UK (February 2024)

  11. A new way to look at acute cough in the pharmacy; The Pharmaceutical Journal, Mar 2017

  12. Hayward G, Thompson MJ, Perera R, et al; Corticosteroids for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Oct 13(10):CD008116. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008116.pub3.

  13. De Sutter AI, Eriksson L, van Driel ML; Oral antihistamine-decongestant-analgesic combinations for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Jan 211:CD004976. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004976.pub4.

  14. Karsch-Volk M, Barrett B, Kiefer D, et al; Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Feb 202:CD000530. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000530.pub3.

  15. Hemila H, Chalker E; Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jan 311:CD000980. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000980.pub4.

  16. Hemila H, Haukka J, Alho M, et al; Zinc acetate lozenges for the treatment of the common cold: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2020 Jan 2310(1):e031662. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031662.

  17. Wu T, Zhang J, Qiu Y, et al; Chinese medicinal herbs for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jan 24(1):CD004782.

  18. Lissiman E, Bhasale AL, Cohen M; Garlic for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Nov 11(11):CD006206. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006206.pub4.

  19. Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, et al; Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Apr 104:CD007094. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007094.pub5.

  20. Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children; Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), 2014

  21. Kurai D, Saraya T, Ishii H, et al; Virus-induced exacerbations in asthma and COPD. Front Microbiol. 2013 Oct 14:293.

  22. Jefferson T, Del Mar CB, Dooley L, et al; Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Nov 2011:CD006207. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub5.

  23. Jefferson T, Del Mar CB, Dooley L, et al; Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Jul 6(7):CD006207.

  24. Simancas-Racines D, Franco JV, Guerra CV, et al; Vaccines for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 May 185:CD002190. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD002190.pub5.

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