How to avoid a cold

Hands mostly.

Not sneezing, not airborne stuff.

Those alcohol wipes don't work btw.

As for those increasingly popular alcohol-based sanitizing gels, sorry, but they may not measure up to plain soap and water. "Rhinoviruses like alcohol. They think it's tasty," says Hendley. For whatever reason, adds Zachary of MGH, "cold viruses are not as susceptible to alcohol-based hand disinfectants as other viruses and bacteria."

And what of the common assumption that the same nasty cold virus can get passed back and forth endlessly within a couple or family? Not true. Most of the time, the next round of colds is because of a new virus.

But if you find that you are recovering from a cold, only to feel sick again, it does not necessarily mean a new virus is at work. "Some cold viruses can be biphasic," says Hirsch, which means that the sufferer can feel sick, then feel better, and then feel sick again - all with the same viral infection. In addition, other microbes, including bacteria, can cause secondary infections such as sinusitis and ear infections.