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Quick facts
- What is a cold? The common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory system, including the nose, throat, sinuses, larynx, and bronchial tubes.
- Influenza is a much more serious illness than colds. Often people call a severe common cold "the flu", but they are quite different illnesses.
- Want to prevent getting a cold? Practice preventative measures — wash your hands and keep your fingers away from your eyes and nose.
- Antibiotics won't stop your cold from getting worse and will not stop infection spreading to other people. Importantly, using antibiotics when you don't need them may make them less effective when you do need them.
- Both are spread through coughing and sneezing. We don't actually "catch" colds or flu; we allow them to catch us by neglecting our immune systems and ignoring early symptoms.
- It's not called the "common" cold for nothing — 4.5 million Australians cop a cold at least once a year.
- Kids average six to eight colds a year, while adults average between two and four. Why? There are hundreds of cold viruses and every time we catch one, it's unlikely that we'll ever get that strain again. So the older you are, the more cold viruses you've fought off and the less likely you are to get a cold.
- Why do we catch more colds in winter? We're indoors more and in close contact much more, therefore winter is a paradise for cold viruses as they prefer slightly cooler and moister weather. So the viruses circulate during winter and that's why we're more likely to get sick in winter.
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