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	The cold is the most frequent, acute sickness in our society, hitting each grown up two to six, each child two to eight times a year. Parents of kindergarten or school aged children are hit more often than childless couples or singles. Colds are almost exclusively caused by viruses. Contamination takes place by droplet infection. First signals are often a dry, scratchy throat, sneezing, a runny nose and sometimes a slight chill and unwell feeling. These symptoms are usually followed by coughing and hoarseness. With grown-ups, headaches, fever, ear-, muscle- and rheumatic pains often occur. A general feeling of being unwell coupled with tiredness and fatigue spreads. The average duration of a cold is about a week, even if some symptoms may persist for another week. With flue-like infections and the true flue, which can only by triggered by influenza-viruses, the symptoms can be stronger and more persistent. The symptoms are to be understood as the body's reaction to the viruses' attack. Here, too, prostaglandins strengthen the inflammatory reaction and experience of pain. The symptoms usually disappear of their own accord, if no additional infection with bacteria ensues. Secondary diseases can be inflammations of the paranasal sinuses, tonsils, middle ear or even lungs, which then may be successfully treated with antibiotics.