What is the Incubation Period for a Cold

The incubation period can be defined as the time phase between a pathogen entering a body and when the first symptoms of infection appear. Common cold is caused by a variety of viruses such as rhinovirus, adenovirus, enteroviruses, coronavirus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, etc. and each of these viruses has a different incubation period. Thus, in order to determine the incubation period for common cold, one needs to first of all know which virus has caused it!

Incubation Period

Common cold develops when a person with weakened immunity catches an infection either due to coming in direct physical contact with an infected person or by breathing the air which is inflicted with any of the viruses mentioned above. Some of the symptoms which confirm the presence of an infection are - a running nose, a stuffy nose, congestion, headaches, coughing and sneezing, body aches, fatigue, fever, a sore throat and loss of appetite.

Research in this field has shown that the viruses which cause this infection may sometimes be actually present in the human body for a very long time before they show any physical symptoms. It also points out that sometimes the viruses may not show any symptoms at all! However, if you take in majority of the cases, it takes a minimum of two days for the symptoms to appear. For specific viruses, the incubation periods are: Rhinovirus: 10-12 hours, Coronaviruses: 2-10 days, Adenoviruses: 2-14 days, Influenza Virus: 1-7 days, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV): 2-8 days. Thus, the period may vary from ten hours to eight days!

As for the contagious period i.e. when a person can infect another person, it begins the moment the virus responsible for it enters the body. This means that a person exhibiting no outwardly symptoms can actually infect others! At the same time, the most contagious period of common cold is from day two, when the symptoms mentioned above start appearing, till day four.

Treatment

As the name suggests, common cold is pretty common! Still, till date there have been no treatment methods devised. The only treatments available are those which help the person suffering from it to overcome its symptoms. There are cough syrups, ibuprofen and other pain medication, throat lozenges, all aimed to reduce the symptoms. That's why, relying on the home remedies is a much better idea. Some of the effective home remedies to treat a cold are - inhaling steam, taking a steam bath, drinking lots of water, gargling with salt water, taking adequate sleep and rest, increasing vitamin C intake, drinking chicken soup, herbal teas and hot turmeric milk.

A person experiencing the common cold symptoms should know how to differentiate between cold and flu too. A common cold generally takes about a week to get cured. However, if the symptoms refuse to go even after that, there could be a bacterial infection behind it. In such a case, prescribed treatment by a doctor is recommended.