Symptoms

Colds

For healthy adults and older children, most colds last about a week, but such symptoms as a cough can last for 3 to 4 weeks. In infants, colds can last longer - even several weeks before they are completely gone. No common cold ever lasts for longer than three weeks. Sometimes it seems like a child has had a cold for months, but that's really a succession of different cold viruses.

Symptoms include:

• Sore throat and nose
• Runny or blocked nose
• Sneezing
• Coughing
• Phlegm in the back of the throat
• Headache
• Tiredness

Sometimes colds can cause laryngitis, which is a hoarse voice. Coughing that produces colored phlegm may not indicate a need for antibiotics.

Flu

Symptoms are usually more severe than a cold and last as long as two weeks.

• High fever
• Dry cough
• Aching all over, including headache
• General malaise
• Extreme fatigue

Cold and flu complications

You should talk to your doctor if you have any of the following symptoms:

• A cold or flu that lasts longer than 10 days
• Earache or drainage from the ear
• Severe pain in the forehead or face
• Fever above 102 degrees F
• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing
• Hoarseness, sore throat or cough that doesn't go away after 3 to 4 weeks

Sinusitis

Sinusitis may feel like a cold, but symptoms of bacterial sinusitis last between 10 and 28 days. A cold will last a few days to a week.

Signs that a cold might be associated with a sinus infection:

• A persistent cough
• The presence of thick mucus for more than a week
• A fever in combination with the above symptoms
• Tenderness and pain over the affected sinuses or in a tooth - especially on one side
• A feeling of pressure in the sinuses, which may worsen when the patient bends over
• Drainage from the nose often changes from a clear color to a thicker, yellowish-green

Some children get upset stomachs from the infected drainage going down the back of their throats and being swallowed.

More on Cold, Flu and Sinus

In the Encyclopedia:

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.