94 Fun Facts About Common Cold

Roughly how many different viruses are known to cause the common cold?

About 200 is the usual count: more than 200 viruses from several families can cause a cold, which is how the average adult manages to catch two or three of them every year.

Which scientist found the germ-killing enzyme lysozyme in nasal mucus in the early 1920s?

Alexander Fleming had a cold when he put some of his own nasal mucus on a culture plate and found that it cleared the bacteria around it; he later detected the same enzyme in tears and saliva.

According to a British wartime slogan, coughs and sneezes spread what?

Diseases completed the rhyme on government posters telling Britons to trap their germs in a handkerchief; the slogan had first been used in the United States during the 1918 flu pandemic.

How long does the cough that comes with a cold last on average?

18 days is the average found when studies of acute coughs were pooled, yet adults surveyed for the same review expected such a cough to be gone in about a week.

What mainly produces the symptoms of a cold?

The body's own immune response, not damage done by the virus, drives most cold symptoms: chemical signals released to fight the infection cause the swelling, mucus and sneezing.

Contrary to popular belief, what does green nasal mucus tell you about an infection?

Nothing about its cause: mucus turns green from an iron-rich enzyme in the white blood cells that flood the nose during any infection, whether viral or bacterial.

Which symptom is more typical of a common cold than of influenza?

A runny nose is typical of a cold but less common in influenza; flu comes on quickly with high fever and aching muscles, while a cold builds over two or three days, so sudden onset is the usual sign of flu.

Why is there no vaccine for the common cold?

Too many fast-changing viruses stand in the way: colds come from several unrelated virus families that mutate quickly, so immunity to one leaves the others untouched.

Which supplement, taken as lozenges soon after the first symptoms, may shorten a cold?

Zinc lozenges begun soon after symptoms start shortened colds in some trials, though reviews disagree on recommending them; zinc nasal gels were withdrawn in 2009 after a safety warning from the FDA.

What has regular vitamin C been shown to do for colds?

Shorten them slightly is all it does: pooled trials found colds about 8 percent shorter in adults but no fewer, except among marathon runners and soldiers on Arctic exercises, whose risk halved.

Much of the relief people get from cold remedies is put down to which effect?

The placebo effect does much of the work: in a review of eight cough-medicine trials, about 85 percent of the improvement was matched in patients given a dummy treatment.

Honey, a guideline remedy for coughs, is unsafe for babies under one because it can cause which illness?

Botulism is the danger: honey can carry bacterial spores that take hold in a baby's immature gut yet rarely trouble older children and adults, so NICE lists honey as a cough remedy only for those over one.

What do antibiotics do for someone with a common cold?

Nothing but risk side effects: antibiotics kill bacteria, not the viruses behind a cold, so they bring no benefit while exposing the patient to their usual side effects and feeding antibiotic resistance.

Which of these oral cold-remedy ingredients has evidence of easing a stuffy nose in adults?

Pseudoephedrine, taken by mouth, measurably reduces nasal congestion in adults; its rival phenylephrine, which replaced it on many open shelves, was judged ineffective orally by a 2023 FDA advisory panel.

Under what conditions is moderate exercise considered safe with a cold?

If symptoms are confined to the head, such as sneezing or a sore throat, light to moderate exercise is generally considered fine; fever, chest congestion, widespread aches or fatigue are signs to rest instead.

What is the estimated basic reproduction number of common cold viruses?

2 to 3 is the estimated basic reproduction number, meaning each infected person passes a cold to two or three others on average in a susceptible population; measles, by contrast, runs to 12 to 18.

Which complication follows roughly a third of colds in infants and toddlers?

An ear infection is so common at that age because a small child's eustachian tubes are shorter and more level than an adult's, giving germs from the nose and throat an easy path to the middle ear.

Should a mother with a cold keep nursing her baby?

Yes, the virus is not passed in breast milk; the milk instead carries the mother's antibodies, and by the time she has symptoms the baby has already been exposed through the air and touch.

A cold outbreak at an Antarctic base after 17 weeks of isolation was blamed on what?

A carrier or contaminated object was suspected, the carrier being someone with no symptoms: six of the twelve men on Adelaide Island caught colds in turn with no outside contact, and the base's huskies were ruled out.

In a study of 1,100 airline passengers, did recirculated cabin air spread more colds than fresh air?

No, about the same: passengers flying from San Francisco to Denver reported colds at similar rates whether their plane used fresh or recirculated air, though sitting close to others does appear to matter.

Which ancient text, written over 3,500 years ago, describes cold symptoms and treatments?

The Egyptian Ebers papyrus, copied around 1550 BC, mixes herbal recipes with incantations meant to drive out disease-causing demons, and its cold cures show how long people have been trying to treat the illness.

Which old word for a streaming head cold comes from the Greek for 'to flow down'?

Catarrh comes from the Greek katarrhein, 'to flow down'; the plainer name 'cold' took over from the 16th century because the symptoms resembled the effects of exposure to cold weather.

Near which English city was the Medical Research Council's Common Cold Unit based from 1946?

Salisbury, in Wiltshire, was the home of the Common Cold Unit, which occupied the Harvard Hospital at Harnham Down, a wartime gift from Harvard University and the American Red Cross.

How did the Common Cold Unit present a stay at its facility in adverts recruiting volunteers?

As an unusual holiday opportunity: volunteers got ten days of free board, pocket money and country walks, in return for nasal drops that might carry a cold virus and isolation from everyone but a flat-mate.

How many scientific papers did the Common Cold Unit produce between 1946 and 1989?

1,006 scientific papers came out of the unit in 43 years, covering transmission, immunity and trials of remedies, before it closed in 1989 having found no cure.

The first human member of which virus family was isolated at Britain's Common Cold Unit in the 1960s?

Coronaviruses entered human medicine with strain B814, isolated at the unit by David Tyrrell's team and reported in 1965; June Almeida's electron micrographs showed the crown-like fringe that gave the family its name.

At which American university did Winston Price isolate the first rhinovirus, from nurses with colds, in 1953?

Johns Hopkins virologist Winston Price took nasal samples from nurses with a mild respiratory illness and isolated what he named the JH virus, after the university; his findings were published in 1956.

Compared with the body's core, what temperature do the commonest cold viruses prefer?

Slightly cooler suits them: they multiply best at about 33 °C, as found inside the nose, and less well at the core's 37 °C; a Yale study of mouse airway cells found the antiviral defence weaker at the lower temperature.

The cold decongestant whose US sales were restricted by a 2005 law can be turned into which illegal drug?

Methamphetamine can be made from the decongestant, so the 2005 law limited how much customers could buy, and many cold remedies on open shelves switched to a different active ingredient.

What is the medical term for a sneeze?

Sternutation comes from the Latin sternuere, 'to sneeze'; the same root named the 'sternutatory' gases, arsenic compounds that caused violent sneezing, which Germany added to its chemical weapons in 1917.

Is it impossible to sneeze with your eyes open?

No, the eyelid reflex can be suppressed: the eyes close automatically as part of the sneeze, but people can keep them open with effort, and the eyes are in no danger of popping out.

Which inherited sneeze reflex, nicknamed ACHOO syndrome, affects roughly one person in four?

Sneezing triggered by sudden bright light puzzled Aristotle, who blamed the sun's heat on the nose; Francis Bacon tested that by facing the sun with his eyes shut, did not sneeze, and concluded the eyes were involved.

What does the German response to a sneeze, 'Gesundheit', literally mean?

Health is the literal meaning of Gesundheit, from gesund, 'healthy'; like 'bless you', the wish is sometimes traced to an old superstition that a sneeze could send the soul flying out of the body.

By what nickname is chicken soup known for its reputed powers against colds?

Jewish penicillin is the affectionate nickname, reflecting chicken soup's place in Ashkenazi home remedies; a 2000 University of Nebraska study found it could slow neutrophil movement in the lab, hinting at a mild anti-inflammatory effect.

Which household brand was launched in 1924 as a disposable way to wipe off cold cream?

Kleenex was sold as a cold-cream remover until a few adverts suggested it as a throwaway handkerchief; that use soon took over, and by the 1930s the slogan was 'Don't Carry a Cold in Your Pocket'.

By a 2003 estimate, roughly how many colds and similar infections do Americans catch each year?

About 500 million was the figure researchers reached from a survey of some 4,000 US households; they put the yearly cost at close to $40 billion, more than half of it in lost work.

What tends to happen when decongestant nasal sprays are used for too many days running?

The blocked nose comes back worse, a problem doctors call rebound congestion; that is why the NHS advises using decongestant sprays for no more than five days at a time.

Which antiviral showed promise against cold viruses but hit safety issues in oral form?

Pleconaril, a capsid-binding drug active against picornaviruses, shortened colds in trials but was refused approval in 2002 over drug interactions, including reduced effectiveness of oral contraceptives; an inhaled form was later studied.

How many colds a year does a young child typically catch?

6 to 8 colds a year is the usual figure for a young child, who has met few cold viruses before and passes them around at nursery or school; the average adult gets two to three.

Which substance made by the body warded off colds when put into volunteers' noses at the Common Cold Unit?

Interferon given before exposure did protect volunteers, but it worked less well once a cold had begun and brought unwanted reactions in the nose, so it never became a routine remedy.

Which two lifestyle factors are linked to a higher risk of infection after rhinovirus exposure?

Insufficient sleep and malnutrition both weaken immune defences: in one study, people sleeping under seven hours were about three times as likely to develop a cold after being given the virus as those sleeping eight or more.

Roughly how big is a rhinovirus particle?

30 nanometres makes a rhinovirus one of the smallest viruses, about a tenth the width of the smallpox virus and far too small for any light microscope, which cannot resolve much below 200 nanometres.

Which cough-medicine ingredient is restricted in some countries because of recreational misuse?

Dextromethorphan, the common 'DM' cough suppressant, produces dissociative effects at high doses, so recreational misuse has led some countries to restrict it to pharmacies or prescriptions and several US states to bar sales to minors.

What is the formal medical name for the common cold?

Acute nasopharyngitis simply means sudden inflammation of the nose and throat; a cold is diagnosed from its symptoms alone, and doctors rarely test to find which virus is behind it.

Which crewed NASA mission turned tetchy after its commander caught a head cold in orbit?

Apollo 7 commander Wally Schirra later turned that cold into a TV contract advertising Actifed, the medicine he had taken in space. His crew even refused to wear helmets for re-entry so they could pinch their blocked noses.

Which singer's sniffles gave Gay Talese the title of his celebrated 1966 profile for Esquire magazine?

Frank Sinatra refused to be interviewed, so Talese spent three months shadowing him and questioning his entourage. Esquire later named the result the best story it ever published.

Which double Nobel Prize winner's 1970 book urged readers to take huge doses of vitamin C against colds?

Linus Pauling won Nobels for chemistry and for peace, but most scientists found little evidence for his megadose advice.

Some decongestant cold tablets sit behind US pharmacy counters because they can be cooked into which illegal drug?

Crystal meth can be made from the decongestant in the tablets, so a US law enacted in 2006 moved them behind the counter, capped monthly purchases and made buyers show ID.

Which US president fell ill with cold-like symptoms weeks after giving the longest inaugural address in history?

William H. Harrison died a month into office in 1841. His coatless speech was long blamed, but a 2014 study pointed to a typhoid-type fever from the White House's tainted water supply.

Cold sores are not caused by any cold virus, so which virus is really behind these lip blisters?

Herpes simplex hides dormant in facial nerves and flares up when a fever or a cold strikes, which is how the blisters got their misleading name.

Which kitchen-cupboard cough soother do UK regulators suggest for children with colds, but never for babies?

Honey can carry spores that cause infant botulism, which rules it out for babies, yet the World Health Organization recommends it for coughs and sore throats.

Which steaming nightcap of whisky, water, lemon and spices is a traditional remedy for cold symptoms?

Hot toddy is simply called hot whiskey in Ireland, while parts of the American South nickname it southern cough syrup.

Which of the four humours of ancient medicine was classed as cold and wet and linked to winter?

Phlegm was also blamed for sluggish, unexcitable moods, a belief that survives in the word phlegmatic.

Which cooling compound in cough drops makes a blocked nose feel clearer without actually opening it?

Menthol triggers the skin's cold-sensing receptors, so the brain reads the cool tingle as easier airflow even though the congestion is unchanged.

Which rare but dangerous childhood condition is the reason children with a cold should never be given aspirin?

Reye syndrome is a rapidly worsening brain disease that usually follows a viral illness, and cases fell by more than 90% once aspirin was withdrawn for children in the 1980s.

Which coneflower native to North American prairies became a popular herbal cold remedy despite a lack of firm evidence?

Echinacea was used by Indigenous peoples of North America for infections and wounds long before trials found no firm benefit against colds.

Which complication of a cold can leave a sufferer hoarse, or with no voice at all, for days on end?

Laryngitis is an inflammation of the voice box that usually clears in under two weeks, and the standard advice is to rest the voice and drink plenty of fluids.

Itchy, watery eyes and sneezing fits that last for weeks point away from a cold and towards which condition?

Hay fever mimics a cold but, despite its name, rarely raises the temperature, because it is the immune system overreacting to pollen rather than fighting a virus.

Which bacterial disease starts out like an ordinary cold before turning into months of violent coughing fits?

Pertussis, better known as whooping cough or the 100-day cough, is already infectious during the early stage that looks like a harmless cold.

Which inflammation of the larger airways of the lungs is popularly known as a chest cold?

Bronchitis of the short-term kind is viral in more than 90% of cases, and calling it a chest cold may leave patients more content to go without antibiotics.

Which microscopic hair-like structures lining the airways sweep mucus and trapped cold viruses towards the throat?

Cilia beat in coordinated waves towards the throat, where the mucus they carry is either swallowed or coughed up.

Which fiery lozenge brand did pharmacist James Lofthouse devise in Fleetwood, Lancashire, in 1865?

Fisherman's Friend began as a strong liquid for crews working the northern fishing grounds, and the lozenge's shape is said to copy the buttons on Mrs Lofthouse's dress.

Which tree, mostly native to Australia, yields the oil used in many decongestant rubs and cough sweets?

Eucalyptus leaf infusions were a traditional Aboriginal treatment for congestion and colds, though the concentrated oil is poisonous if swallowed.

Which inventor's studio filmed employee Fred Ott sneezing in 1894 for one of America's earliest copyrighted films?

Thomas Edison's assistant took a pinch of snuff to bring on the five-second sneeze, which the Library of Congress ranks as the second-oldest surviving copyrighted US film.

Which decongestant in many cold pills did US FDA advisers judge ineffective when swallowed, in a 2023 review?

Phenylephrine had filled US shelves under names such as Sudafed PE, yet the panel concluded that as a tablet it performed no better than a dummy pill.

Using decongestant nasal sprays for more than a few days in a row can bring on which backfiring problem?

Rebound congestion, which doctors call rhinitis medicamentosa, typically appears after five to seven days of use, and in severe cases the swollen tissue has to be removed by surgery.

Which night-time cold medicine, first marketed in the United States in 1966, is sold under the Vicks name?

NyQuil has a daytime counterpart, DayQuil, which is formulated to avoid the drowsiness that the night-time syrup brings on.

Which small spouted jug from India's yogic tradition is used to rinse a blocked nose with salt water?

Neti pot rinsing with untreated tap water was tied to two deaths in 2011 from Naegleria fowleri, the so-called brain-eating amoeba.

What is the medical term for the loss of the sense of smell that a badly blocked nose can cause?

Anosmia from a cold is usually temporary, but it is risky while it lasts because it hides the warning smells of gas leaks, smoke and spoiled food.

Which childhood illness, known for a barking cough likened to a sea lion's call, can begin as a parainfluenza cold?

Croup makes a child's small windpipe swell, and the cough and noisy breathing usually grow worse at night.

Which cold virus, usually known by a three-letter abbreviation, causes most cases of bronchiolitis in babies?

RSV, short for respiratory syncytial virus, is behind about 70% of bronchiolitis cases, yet when it reinfects adults it usually feels like nothing worse than a cold.

Which emperor was sick with a cold at the Battle of Borodino and declined to commit his elite Guard?

Napoleon stayed too far back to follow the fighting and refused to reinforce his commanders on what became the bloodiest single day of his wars.

Which 14th-century English king is widely credited with inventing the cloth handkerchief to wipe his nose?

Richard II earned the credit because his courtiers left documents describing the square pieces of cloth he used.

In Chinese, Korean and Japanese tradition, a sneeze with no obvious cause is a sign that someone is doing what?

Talking about you is a reading of the unexplained sneeze that appears in China's Book of Songs as early as 1000 BC, and manga and anime still use the idea.

What gives thick nasal mucus its green tint during a cold, through a pigmented enzyme carried inside?

White blood cells called neutrophils carry myeloperoxidase, an enzyme with a green heme pigment, so the colour shows the body's defenders have arrived in force.

A 2000 study using dye and CT scans found that blowing the nose propels mucus into which cavities?

The sinuses took in much of the dye, because a nose-blow generates about ten times the pressure of a sneeze or a cough.

A blocked nose during a cold usually comes from membranes swollen by the inflammation of which structures?

Blood vessels in the lining of the nose swell and narrow the passages, and decongestant sprays work by making them constrict again.

Which narrow passage linking the throat to the middle ear lets a cold lead on to an ear infection?

Eustachian tube swelling traps fluid in which bacteria thrive, and children suffer most because their tubes are shorter and lie closer to horizontal.

Which pope is traditionally said to have ordered a blessing for sneezers during a plague in Rome in 590?

Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, features in the most repeated origin story for saying 'bless you', because a sneeze was taken as an early sign of the disease.

Which bearded siblings from Poughkeepsie sold the first cough drops advertised in the United States?

The Smith Brothers became known as Trade and Mark, because those words sat beneath their portraits when the logo was trademarked in 1877.

Which apes proved able to catch human colds in Alphonse Dochez's early experiments with filtered nasal secretions?

Chimpanzees showed every symptom of a human cold except fever, and they caught colds from bacteria-free filtered secretions, which pointed to a virus.

Which cold and fever reliever is known as acetaminophen in the United States but by another name in Britain?

Paracetamol is routinely taken for the aches and raised temperature of a cold, yet trials have left it unclear whether it actually eases the symptoms.

Which class of drugs can ease cold symptoms for a day or two but tends to cause drowsiness?

Antihistamines improve symptoms only in the first day or two, trials show, with no benefit after that to set against the sleepiness.

Which family of tiny viruses includes both the commonest cold viruses and the virus that causes polio?

Picornaviruses were named partly as a pun, with 'pico' for very small added to RNA, and partly as an acronym of their members and traits.

Which cranial nerve, the main sensory nerve of the face, carries the nasal irritation signals that trigger a sneeze?

Trigeminal signals run to the brainstem, which fires the reflex; during REM sleep that relay is switched off, so sleepers do not sneeze.

Which medical word, treated by doctors as a synonym for rhinitis, is the traditional term for a cold in the head?

Coryza came into English through Latin, and one physician observed that the word and 'a cold in the head' are really the same thing.

Which American university gave its name to the wartime hospital in England that became home to the Common Cold Unit?

Harvard Hospital was brought over by the United States early in the Second World War to fight infectious disease, and a plaque still marks the site.

The inherited reflex jokingly named snatiation causes uncontrollable bursts of sneezing in response to which trigger?

A full stomach sets off the sneezing straight after a large meal, and the name was coined in a humorous letter to a genetics journal.

Which cold-causing virus takes its name from the throat tissue in which it was first isolated in 1953?

Adenovirus was first found in human adenoids, and the only vaccine, which covers two of its types, is reserved for US military personnel.

Which cold virus was first identified in 2001 by Dutch researchers, though it had circulated unnoticed for decades?

Metapneumovirus had been missed because standard tests looked only for known viruses, and blood studies later showed it had been infecting people for at least 50 years.

Which expectorant, meant to thin and loosen chest mucus, is the active ingredient in the brand Mucinex?

Guaifenesin has been approved in the United States since 1952, yet of three trials weighed in one major review only one found that it clearly helped a cough.

Which rash illness begins much like a common cold, with fever, cough, runny nose and sore, inflamed eyes?

Measles gives itself away two or three days in, when small white Koplik spots may appear inside the mouth before the rash spreads from the face.

What is the medical term for a sore throat caused by inflammation at the back of the throat?

Pharyngitis is viral in most cases, while strep, the bacterial kind that antibiotics treat, accounts for about a quarter of cases in children.

Which cough suppressant found naturally in the opium poppy was first isolated in 1832 by Pierre Jean Robiquet?

Codeine works only after the liver converts it into morphine, and the evidence does not support using it to quieten children's coughs.