Common cold is an infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract caused by rhinoviruses or picornaviruses. It can be considered as the most common infectious disease in humans. It is a self limited disease and is very rarely fatal. It mostly spreads through direct hand to hand contact with infected secretions. It commonly presents with a running nose, sore throat, nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing. Fatigue, malaise and headache my also accompany common cold. It can lead to bacterial superinfection causing pneumonia, otitis media, acute bronchitis, croup etc. Cases of common cold are mostly seen in winter but there is no direct relationship between the cold weather and the disease. In winter, people tend to spend mere time indoors, facilitating the spread of the virus. There is no specific treatment for common cold. It spontaneously resolves in 7 to 10 days. But in some cases, symptoms may persist for up to three weeks. Analgesics maybe administered for providing symptomatic relief. Antibiotics should be administered only in case of bacterial superinfection. Spread of common cold can be prevented by washing the hands regularly and covering the nose with a kerchief. As it can be caused by a wide variety of virus strains which mutate frequently, successful immunization is practically impossible.