If you’re feeling sick right now, it’s probably a common cold.
While cases of most wintertime respiratory illnesses have plummeted since the colder months, cold-causing rhinoviruses and enteroviruses have been on the rise this month, the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Weekly tests coming back positive for the viruses have jumped to around 20 percent, up from 16 percent on April 4.
These viruses spread very easily and can infect any age group — although infants, children and teenagers are more likely to fall ill than adults.
Rhinoviruses are responsible for half of common colds and there are more than 200 rhinoviruses and enteroviruses that can infect people, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“Each year in the United States, there are millions of cases of the common cold. Adults have an average of two to three colds per year, and children have even more,” the department says.
While flu and Covid cases see seasonal peaks, you can get a cold at any time of the year and there are more than a billion each year in the U.S., according to Penn Medicine.
So, how do you know if you’ve caught one?
Colds usually last for less than a week, with symptoms peaking within two or three days of infection.
Typical symptoms include a runny nose, cough, sneezing, a sore throat, a headache, body aches, fever and nasal congestion.
In more severe cases, people may develop complications, such as ear and sinus infections, asthma attacks, bronchitis and pneumonia, the CDC says.
In especially rare cases, colds can become fatal, though it’s unknown how many deaths there are from colds specifically in the U.S. each year.
Rhinoviruses are generally mild, but can lead to serious illness in higher risk populations.
Enteroviruses are often more serious their rhinoviruses, even in healthy people, according to the Cleveland Clinic’s family medicine Dr. Matthew Goldman.
Enteroviruses – excluding polio – cause about 10-15 million infections and tens of thousands of hospitalizations each year and rhinoviruses have been found to result in a “significant number” of infant hospitalizations.
Both viruses can spread easily between people — but do so in different ways, the clinic notes.
Rhinoviruses spread mainly through coughing, sneezing and touching contaminated surfaces. Some enteroviruses can spread through the air, but are more often passed through contact with fecal matter.
“Places like daycares, schools or crowded indoor spaces make it easier to pass either virus from person to person — even before someone is showing symptoms,” Goldman said.
People can avoid exposure to both kinds of cold-causing viruses by frequently washing their hands, making sure to keep their hands away from their eyes and nose and avoiding close contact with people who are or may be infected.
If you’ve caught a cold, drink plenty of fluids, rest and use over-the-counter medicines as needed, unless you are a child under the age of 6.
“The common cold does not have a treatment but should get better on its own,” the American Lung Association notes.
