Overview
- For otherwise healthy adults, a common cold is typically self‑limiting over about a week and usually does not require a routine doctor visit, according to cited health guidance.
- If symptoms fail to improve after seven days, if fever develops, or if cough and hoarseness last beyond two weeks, medical evaluation is recommended.
- Neglecting a cold can enable secondary infections, including bronchitis, tonsillitis, otitis media, sinusitis, pneumonia and myocarditis.
- Children, pregnant people, older adults and those with chronic illnesses face greater risk of severe outcomes, and pneumonia can be fatal in these groups.
- A general practitioner rejects claims that an unrecovered cold is commonly life‑threatening and says myocarditis risk from exercising during infection is very small; he also notes the chief workplace hazard is spreading the virus to others.