Common Cold Symptoms

The ‘Common Cold’ is medically termed as ‘Acute Viral Nasopharyngitis’ or ‘Acute Coryza’. The common cold is a highly contagious viral disease. It affects the upper respiratory system. The common cold is caused by the coronaviruses or the picornaviruses.

The symptoms of the common cold are quite familiar to all of us because at one point of time or the other, we all have experienced them. Normally these symptoms become visible about 2 – 3 days after the infection has set in. Here is a list of common cold symptoms:

• Sore Throat – The throat feels scratchy and sore.
• Runny Nose - The mucus begins to build up in the nose and tries to find a way out.
• Nasal congestion - This is often due to the mucus build up in the nose.
• Sneezing – This is because the mucus inside the nose attracts dust particles.
• Sinus swelling – These glands swell up causing mucus congestion as well.
• Cough – Sore throat leads to cough. Also the mucus tries to find a way out.
• Loss of appetite – This is caused by the infection and overall tiredness.
• Muscle aches – This is caused by overall tiredness due to the infection.
• Headache – The build up of mucus in the sinus glands leads to headaches.
• Fatigue – The infection causes overall fatigue and tiredness.
• Fever - The fever is often quite slight. But this may also be a sign of influenza if the fever lasts for more than a day or two.

Apart from leading to influenza, a common cold can often lead to infections of the middle ear, or even sinus infections. Therefore it is extremely important to take care during the common cold infection, especially if one is prone to these particular infections.

As such there are no specific remedies for the common cold. However, there are different methods of treatment for the symptoms of the infection, but there are no vaccines for the common cold. Normally these symptoms last for anywhere between 7 – 14 days.