It has more to do with being indoors, congregating in close proximity. Plus the winter season is when many major respiratory viruses circulate in the U. Respiratory viruses are best engineered to spread when you have physical symptoms.
So the more symptomatic you are — the more you sneeze and cough — the more likely you are to spread an infection. You ever watch a sneeze in slow motion? I am a big fan of this video , which gives you a sense of what happens and all the particles you produce with a sneeze.
That said, viruses are clever: You can shed virus that can infect others even when you are asymptomatic. It can be as long as 10 days. Young children and patients with altered immune symptoms can shed the virus for longer periods of time. Influenza can shed for months in high-risk bone marrow transplant recipients. It may just mean that your immune system controls the infection. As I often tell people, a simple cold is rarely simple in high-risk patients. What is the general radius that people can spread their cold or flu germs?
A study done at Wake Forest School of Medicine looked at the distance sneeze and cough particles can travel. It was about 6 feet. In addition, drops spread by getting on surfaces such as door handles. Also stop touching your face! Cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow or preferably into a Kleenex, which you toss, and then wash your hands afterwards. If you sneeze into your hand and then touch something, you can spread the virus.
Washing your hands or using alcohol-based hand gel is a cornerstone of respiratory virus prevention. Your hands touch elevator buttons, public transport rails, all the different places you go on a daily basis, then you touch your face hundreds of times a day. I have a bottle of hand gel with me at all times. If you ever watch anyone wash their hands, it can be quite cursory. How long should you wash your hands? We miss our thumbs, our wrists, under rings and jewelry, under fingernails, the backs of our hands.
There are multiple steps. There are videos out there that show you how to wash your hands. Make sure you get enough hand gel to cover your hands. We recommend that patients with active symptoms wear them in the clinic to prevent spreading respiratory droplets.
But you have to wear them correctly. And their effectiveness is limited once they get wet from coughing, sneezing or the humidification in airways. Editor's note, Oct. Those symptoms Dr. Sutton is referring to are just typical cold symptoms: sore throat , runny nose, coughing, sneezing, headaches, and body aches.
Once those cold symptoms show up, they can last anywhere from a few days to up to two weeks, per MedlinePlus—and in the majority of cases, a cold is most often not contagious after the first week.
But that's not always a hard-and-fast rule; as long as you're still coughing or showing symptoms of any kind, you may still be contagious. Sutton says. And in rare cases, Dr. Women's Health. Expert Advice. Patient Stories. Make an Appointment. Schedule a Callback. Call us 24 hours a day. Symptoms include flu-like illness….
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Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M. Contagiousness Transmission Early symptoms Early treatments Duration Takeaway The common cold is a viral infection that affects your upper respiratory tract. There are several factors that can affect the length of the incubation period, including: the amount of virus you were exposed to, called the infectious dose the strength of your immune system the route through which the virus entered your body.
When is it contagious? How is it spread? What are the early symptoms of a cold? Can early treatment shorten a cold? How long do colds last? The bottom line. Read this next. The Secrets to Never Getting Sick. Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph.
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