The Most Frequently Infectious Disease " Common Cold "

Common Cold

The common cold is the most frequent infectious disease in humans with the average adult contracting two to four infections a year and the average child contracting between 6–12. Collectively, colds, influenza, and other infections with similar symptoms are included in the diagnosis of influenza-like illness. They may also be termed upper respiratory tract infections

What is the symtomps ?????

Symptoms are cough, sore throat, runny nose, and nasal congestion; sometimes this may be accompanied by conjunctivitis (pink eye), muscle aches, fatigue, headaches, shivering, and loss of appetite. Fever is often present thus creating a symptom picture which overlaps with influenza. The symptoms of influenza however are usually more severe.

Common Cold Viruses

How it's infecting and spreading ???????

Touching eyes, nose, or mouth with contaminated fingers is increases the likelihood of transferring viruses from the surface of the hands, where they are harmless, into the upper respiratory tract, where they can infect the tissues. It has been demonstrated that cold viruses can be spread by touching contaminated objects and surfaces, or by brief contact of hands.

Spending time in an enclosed area with an infected person or in close contact with an infected person. Common colds are droplet-borne infections, which means that they can be transmitted through breathing in tiny particles that the infected person emits when he or she coughs or sneezes.

The role of body cooling in causing the common cold is controversial. It is the most commonly offered folk explanation for the disease, and it has received some experimental evidence.

A history of smoking extends the duration of illness by about three days.

Sleeping on the book

Getting fewer than seven hours of sleep per night has been associated with a risk three times higher of developing an infection when exposed to a rhinovirus, compared to those who sleep more than eight hours per night.

Common colds are seasonal, occurring more frequently during winter outside of tropical zones. This is believed to be partly due to a change in behaviors such as increased time spent indoors, which puts infected people in close proximity to other people, rather than to exposure to cold temperatures.

Low humidity increases viral transmission rates. One theory is that dry air causes evaporation of water, thus allowing small viral droplets to disperse farther and stay in the air longer.

Counterintuitively, people with stronger immune systems are more likely to develop symptomatic colds. This is because the symptoms of a cold are directly due to the strong immune response to the virus, not the virus itself. People with less active immune systems—about a quarter of adults—get infected with the viruses, but the relatively weak immunological response produces no significant or identifiable symptoms. These people are asymptomatic carriers and can unknowingly spread the virus to other people. Because strong immune responses cause cold symptoms, "boosting" the immune system increases cold symptoms.

How to prevent ?????
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