You usually start having cold symptoms 1 to 3 days after contact with a cold virus. Symptoms may include a sore throat, sneezing, a runny or stuffy nose, coughing, watery eyes, congestion, a mild fever, tiredness, headache, and loss of appetite.

Colds can usually be diagnosed from your symptoms. Your doctor may need to examine you to rule out other serious infections, such as strep throat and sinusitis.

Common colds are different from influenza (flu), even though both are caused by viruses. Influenza usually develops more suddenly than a cold. When you have the flu, you develop fever and muscle aches within a few hours, even as few as 1 or 2 hours. The symptoms of a cold develop more slowly and are usually milder.

There are no medicines that cure a cold. You can treat your symptoms with nonprescription medicines such as aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, nose drops or sprays, cough syrups and drops, throat lozenges, and decongestants. Check with your doctor before you take any of these drugs if you are already taking other medicines.