Upper Respiratory Infection (URI)

Upper respiratory infection (URI) affects the nose, throat, and upper air passages. URIs are caused by germs (viruses). The most common type of URI is often called “the common cold.”

Medicines cannot cure URIs, but you can do things at home to relieve your symptoms. URIs usually get better within 7–10 days.

Follow these instructions at home:

Activity

• Rest as needed.
• If you have a fever, stay home from work or school until your fever is gone, or until your doctor says you may return to work or school.
  • You should stay home until you cannot spread the infection anymore (you are not contagious).
  • Your doctor may have you wear a face mask so you have less risk of spreading the infection.

Relieving symptoms

• Gargle with a salt-water mixture 3–4 times a day or as needed. To make a salt-water mixture, completely dissolve ½–1 tsp of salt in 1 cup of warm water.
• Use a cool-mist humidifier to add moisture to the air. This can help you breathe more easily.

Eating and drinking

• Drink enough fluid to keep your pee (urine) pale yellow.
• Eat soups and other clear broths.

General instructions

• Take over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your doctor. These include cold medicines, fever reducers, and cough suppressants.
• Do not use any products that contain nicotine or tobacco. These include cigarettes and e-cigarettes. If you need help quitting, ask your doctor.
• Avoid being where people are smoking (avoid secondhand smoke).
• Make sure you get regular shots and get the flu shot every year.
• Keep all follow-up visits as told by your doctor. This is important.

How to avoid spreading infection to others

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If you do not have soap and water, use hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your mouth, face, eyes, or nose.
• Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your sleeve or elbow. Do not cough or sneeze into your hand or into the air.

Contact a doctor if:

• You are getting worse, not better.
• You have any of these:
  • A fever.
  • Chills.
  • Brown or red mucus in your nose.
  • Yellow or brown fluid (discharge)coming from your nose.
  • Pain in your face, especially when you bend forward.
  • Swollen neck glands.
  • Pain with swallowing.
  • White areas in the back of your throat.

Get help right away if:

• You have shortness of breath that gets worse.
• You have very bad or constant:
  • Headache.
  • Ear pain.
  • Pain in your forehead, behind your eyes, and over your cheekbones (sinus pain).
  • Chest pain.
• You have long-lasting (chronic) lung disease along with any of these:
  • Wheezing.
  • Long-lasting cough.
  • Coughing up blood.
  • A change in your usual mucus.
• You have a stiff neck.
• You have changes in your:
  • Vision.
  • Hearing.
  • Thinking.
  • Mood.

Summary

• An upper respiratory infection (URI) is caused by a germ called a virus. The most common type of URI is often called “the common cold.”
• URIs usually get better within 7–10 days.
• Take over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your doctor.

Upper Respiratory Infection in Children

An upper respiratory infection (URI) affects the nose, throat, and upper air passages. URIs are caused by germs (viruses). The most common type of URI is often called “the common cold.”

Medicines cannot cure URIs, but you can do things at home to relieve your child’s symptoms.

Follow these instructions at home:

Medicines

• Give your child over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your child’s doctor.
• Do not give cold medicines to a child who is younger than 6 years old, unless his or her doctor says it is okay.
• Talk with your child’s doctor:
  • Before you give your child any new medicines.
  • Before you try any home remedies such as herbal treatments.
• Do not give your child aspirin.

Relieving symptoms

• Use salt-water nose drops (saline nasal drops) to help relieve a stuffy nose (nasal congestion). Put 1 drop in each nostril as often as needed.
  • Use over-the-counter or homemade nose drops.
  • Do not use nose drops that contain medicines unless your child’s doctor tells you to use them.
  • To make nose drops, completely dissolve ¼ tsp of salt in 1 cup of warm water.
• If your child is 1 year or older, giving a teaspoon of honey before bed may help with symptoms and lessen coughing at night. Make sure your child brushes his or her teeth after you give honey.
• Use a cool-mist humidifier to add moisture to the air. This can help your child breathe more easily.

Activity

• Have your child rest as much as possible.
• If your child has a fever, keep him or her home from daycare or school until the fever is gone.

General instructions

• Have your child drink enough fluid to keep his or her pee (urine) pale yellow.
• If needed, gently clean your young child’s nose. To do this:
  • Put a few drops of salt-water solution around the nose to make the area wet.
  • Use a moist, soft cloth to gently wipe the nose.
• Keep your child away from places where people are smoking (avoid secondhand smoke).
• Make sure your child gets regular shots and gets the flu shot every year.
• Keep all follow-up visits as told by your child’s doctor. This is important.

How to prevent spreading the infection to others

• Have your child:
  • Wash his or her hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, have your child use hand sanitizer. You and other caregivers should also wash your hands often.
  • Avoid touching his or her mouth, face, eyes, or nose.
  • Cough or sneeze into a tissue or his or her sleeve or elbow.
  • Avoid coughing or sneezing into a hand or into the air.

Contact a doctor if:

• Your child has a fever.
• Your child has an earache. Pulling on the ear may be a sign of an earache.
• Your child has a sore throat.
• Your child’s eyes are red and have a yellow fluid (discharge) coming from them.
• Your child’s skin under the nose gets crusted or scabbed over.

Get help right away if:

• Your child who is younger than 3 months has a fever of 100°F (38°C) or higher.
• Your child has trouble breathing.
• Your child’s skin or nails look gray or blue.
• Your child has any signs of not having enough fluid in the body (dehydration), such as:
  • Unusual sleepiness.
  • Dry mouth.
  • Being very thirsty.
  • Little or no pee.
  • Wrinkled skin.
  • Dizziness.
  • No tears.
  • A sunken soft spot on the top of the head.

Summary

• An upper respiratory infection (URI) is caused by a germ called a virus. The most common type of URI is often called “the common cold.”
• Medicines cannot cure URIs, but you can do things at home to relieve your child’s symptoms.
• Do not give cold medicines to a child who is younger than 6 years old, unless his or her doctor says it is okay.

Upper Respiratory Infection in Infants

An upper respiratory infection (URI) is a common infection of the nose, throat, and upper air passages that lead to the lungs. It is caused by a virus. The most common type of URI is the common cold.

URIs usually get better on their own, without medical treatment. URIs in babies may last longer than they do in adults.

What are the causes?

A URI is caused by a virus. Your baby may catch a virus by:

• Breathing in droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
• Touching something that has been exposed to the virus (contaminated) and then touching the mouth, nose, or eyes.

What increases the risk?

Your baby is more likely to get a URI if:

• It is autumn or winter.
• Your baby is exposed to tobacco smoke.
• Your baby has close contact with other kids, such as at child care or daycare.
• Your baby has:
  • A weakened disease-fighting (immune) system. Babies who are born early (prematurely) may have a weakened immune system.
  • Certain allergic disorders.

What are the signs or symptoms?

A URI usually involves some of the following symptoms:

• Runny or stuffy (congested) nose. This may cause difficulty with sucking while feeding.
• Cough.
• Sneezing.
• Ear pain.
• Fever.
• Decreased activity.
• Sleeping less than usual.
• Poor appetite.
• Fussy behavior.

How is this diagnosed?

This condition may be diagnosed based on your baby’s medical history and symptoms, and a physical exam. Your baby’s health care provider may use a cotton swab to take a mucus sample from the nose (nasal swab). This sample can be tested to determine what virus is causing the illness.

How is this treated?

URIs usually get better on their own within 7–10 days. You can take steps at home to relieve your baby’s symptoms. Medicines or antibiotics cannot cure URIs. Babies with URIs are not usually treated with medicine.

Follow these instructions at home:

Medicines

• Give your baby over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your baby’s health care provider.
• Do not give your baby cold medicines. These can have serious side effects for children who are younger than 6 years of age.
• Talk with your baby’s health care provider:
  • Before you give your child any new medicines.
  • Before you try any home remedies such as herbal treatments.
• Do not give your baby aspirin because of the association with Reye syndrome.

Relieving symptoms

• Use over-the-counter or homemade salt-water (saline) nasal drops to help relieve stuffiness (congestion). Put 1 drop in each nostril as often as needed.
  • Do not use nasal drops that contain medicines unless your baby’s health care provider tells you to use them.
  • To make a solution for saline nasal drops, completely dissolve ¼ tsp of salt in 1 cup of warm water.
• Use a bulb syringe to suction mucus out of your baby’s nose periodically. Do this after putting saline nose drops in the nose. Put a saline drop into one nostril, wait for 1 minute, and then suction the nose. Then do the same for the other nostril.
• Use a cool-mist humidifier to add moisture to the air. This can help your baby breathe more easily.

General instructions

• If needed, clean your baby’s nose gently with a moist, soft cloth. Before cleaning, put a few drops of saline solution around the nose to wet the areas.
• Offer your baby fluids as recommended by your baby’s health care provider. Make sure your baby drinks enough fluid so he or she urinates as much and as often as usual.
• If your baby has a fever, keep him or her home from day care until the fever is gone.
• Keep your baby away from secondhand smoke.
• Make sure your baby gets all recommended immunizations, including the yearly (annual) flu vaccine.
• Keep all follow-up visits as told by your baby’s health care provider. This is important.

How to prevent the spread of infection to others

• URIs can be passed from person to person (are contagious). To prevent the infection from spreading:
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially before and after you touch your baby. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer. Other caregivers should also wash their hands often.
  • Do not touch your hands to your mouth, face, eyes, or nose.

Contact a health care provider if:

• Your baby’s symptoms last longer than 10 days.
• Your baby has difficulty feeding, drinking, or eating.
• Your baby eats less than usual.
• Your baby wakes up at night crying.
• Your baby pulls at his or her ear(s). This may be a sign of an ear infection.
• Your baby’s fussiness is not soothed with cuddling or eating.
• Your baby has fluid coming from his or her ear(s) or eye(s).
• Your baby shows signs of a sore throat.
• Your baby’s cough causes vomiting.
• Your baby is younger than 1 month old and has a cough.
• Your baby develops a fever.

Get help right away if:

• Your baby is younger than 3 months and has a fever of 100°F (38°C) or higher.
• Your baby is breathing rapidly.
• Your baby makes grunting sounds while breathing.
• The spaces between and under your baby’s ribs get sucked in while your baby inhales. This may be a sign that your baby is having trouble breathing.
• Your baby makes a high-pitched noise when breathing in or out (wheezes).
• Your baby’s skin or fingernails look gray or blue.
• Your baby is sleeping a lot more than usual.

Summary

• An upper respiratory infection (URI) is a common infection of the nose, throat, and upper air passages that lead to the lungs.
• URI is caused by a virus.
• URIs usually get better on their own within 7–10 days.
• Babies with URIs are not usually treated with medicine. Give your baby over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your baby’s health care provider.
• Use over-the-counter or homemade salt-water (saline) nasal drops to help relieve stuffiness (congestion).