Cold, Flu, & Cough Health Center

4 Natural Cold Remedies: Do They Work?

Preventing a Cold: Does Anything Really Work? continued...

"We found about 30% or 40% of the sites had virus on them." He's talking about surfaces such as light switches and TV remote controls. "A third of the time, the virus was still there," Hendley says of the site samples. "Now we are trying to figure out, is it still infectious?" The hotel study didn't go there, but that study is under way.

Until more research is in, Gwaltney suggests hand washing after touching potentially germy surfaces, rather than adhering to the often-suggested advice of hand washing throughout the day no matter what you've touched.

Rhinoviruses cause about half of all colds in adults, Hendley says. You acquire the virus by getting it on your hand and then touching your nose or eyes, he says. "The virus doesn't usually go through the air," Hendley says. "You usually get it on the finger and you inoculate yourself. Just being in the air space [with an infected person or the virus] is not enough."

Besides hand washing, breathing in humidified air and increasing your fluid intake may also help, Blandino says.

Whatever natural remedy you use, the effects on the cold will be minimal, cautions Gwaltney. Of natural cold remedies, he says: "They're not as effective as commercial cold remedies" such as decongestant, antihistamines, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Patience could pay off, too, Blandino says. "You can't cure the cold," he says. "[But] most of them are gone within 10 days."