Common cold

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses.
Common symptoms are sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing; sometimes accompanied by 'pink eye', muscle aches, fatigue, malaise, headaches, muscle weakness, uncontrollable shivering, and loss of appetite. Fever and extreme exhaustion are rare during a cold and are more usual in influenza.
The symptoms of a cold usually resolve after about one week, but can last up to two. Symptoms may be more severe in infants and young children. Although the disease is generally mild and self-limiting, patients with common colds often seek professional medical help, use over-the-counter drugs, and may miss school or work days. The annual cumulative societal cost of the common cold in developed countries is considerable in terms of money spent on remedies, and hours of lost productivity.
There are no antiviral drugs approved to treat or cure the infection; all medications used are palliative and treat symptoms only. Though some alternative treatments such as Vitamin C megadosage, echinacea, and zinc have been proposed, none of them have been shown to decrease the duration of the illness, and thus none of them are approved by the Food and Drug Administration or European Medicines Agency. To prevent infection, washing or disinfecting hands has been found effective, as this minimizes person-to-person transmission of the virus.