A common bad cold...?!
Question: How long is it contagious?
Answers: How long is it contagious?
The average cold last approx 4-5 days. You will probably be contagious for about two of those days (but it's impossible to put a strict time limit on it, as the human body will respond to colds in different ways, and there are thousands upon thousands of different strains of the common cold virus out there).
See the common cold research centre website, got some useful info on it.
until its gone, you could cough or sneeze in somebodies direction and thats all it takes. its a cold not a virus!
a cold is caused by viruses so it is easily transmitted through droplet infection, like when you sneeze infront of someone without covering your mouth. well.. you can prevent transmitting the cold virus through handwashing..covering your mouth when you sneeze and properly disposing soiled tissues. it is transmitted as long as the virus is still present on the person affected with the cold.
You really don't know if it's contagious or not, unless you are 100% sure about the source. Your body's reactions might be similiar to the flu, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was from a virus. If you have the flu virus, it will vary depending on the strength of your immune system, so there really is no telling for how long your cold might be contagious unless you do experimental tests.