Colds come and go within a week or two and symptoms are normally mild enough to be treated with rest, fluids and medicine. Colds are caused by viruses and they’re easily spread to others, but there are a few things you can do to avoid catching a cold in the first place.
Colds are infectious until all of your symptoms are gone, so it’s very difficult to get on with your day without spreading a cold.
If you’re fit and healthy and want to avoid catching a cold, you’ll need to wash your hands often and wear a mask in public.
The flu vaccine helps to prevent flu but not colds, so steering clear of the common cold is up to your actions.
Express.co.uk chatted to Kristoffer Ahlerup, commercial director of Enzymatica, the manufacturers of ColdZyme to find out the four things that can cause a cold.
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Kissing
Colds are known to be transmitted through direct contact with one another, and kissing is the most obvious way to get up close and personal with someone else and their symptoms.
One study found that ‘kissing may spread viral agents from person-to-person if the recipient is susceptible’, plus it is possible that the mucus from the saliva and or nose droplets will transmit the cold virus to the other person if infected.
However, the director of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University has said that unless you have a bad cough and the respiratory mucus is in your saliva, it’s unlikely that a cold will be passed through kissing.
Holding hands
Holding hands with an infected person is an easy way to catch a cold!
It’s more likely that someone is harbouring a cold from coughing, sneezing and passing germs from blowing their nose.
Something as simple as holding hands or holding the door for someone else after they’ve touched it with infected cold mucus droplets is easily done.
This means it is possible to transmit a cold virus if you then touch your mouth, nose or eyes.
Sharing food and drinks
Sharing any food or drinks is one to watch if you or the person you’re with has a cold.
Tiny droplets of fluid that contain the cold virus could drop onto the food for instance and be inhaled when airborne if the infected person coughs or sneezes.
The same applies to drinks. If another person who is infected with a cold virus has drunk from a glass or bottle, they might have dropped infected mucus in their saliva into the drink.
If you’ve drunk their drink afterwards, there is the chance you’ve swapped saliva and could catch a cold.
Sharing cutlery
If you’re out for dinner or live with someone who has a cold, you can catch a cold through sharing cutlery.
If you’re cooking dinner for someone or being cooked for, ensure hands have been thoroughly washed if you have a cold.
The cold virus can be caught from sharing cutlery through not washing hands or droplets from the cold virus.”
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