What is nasal congestion?
If the mucous membrane in the nose, the sinuses and/or throat is inflamed it is referred to as a common cold or nasal congestion. A common cold is contagious and is caused by a virus. On average, adults get a cold two to five times a year and children six to ten times a year. A cold often takes no longer than a week. If one is still suffering from a cold after ten days, then there might be something else going on such as an respiratory allergy.

 

The virus causing a cold enters the body through the nose and ends up in the nasal cavity/pharynx. Then the infection spreads to the front of the nose, this causes symptoms such as sniffling and stuffiness of the nose. The rest of the pharynx also has to deal with the virus, this results in a sore throat and coughing. Besides these symptoms sometimes the vocal cords become inflamed causing hoarseness.

 

A common cold is usually unavoidable.

One can try to stay away from people already having a cold. A common cold usually disappears witin a week or two. Taking medications for a cold is not necessary. Antibiotics do not help in this situation because antibiotics only help to cure a bacterial infection and don’t have affect on a viral infection.