Common cold (sipon): symptoms, home remedies and when to see a doctor

A common cold is a mild infection of the nose and throat. Most Filipinos call it sipon. Symptoms start 2 or 3 days after you catch the virus and build up slowly.

The usual signs are:

• a runny nose or a stuffy nose (barado ang ilong)
• sneezing
• a scratchy or sore throat, sometimes a hoarse voice
• a cough
• feeling tired and a bit unwell

Some people also get a headache, muscle aches or a dull sense of taste and smell. Adults often have no fever or a low one; young children are more likely to have a fever.

How long it lasts: most people feel better in about a week, but a runny nose and cough can last up to 2 weeks, longer in young children.

Thick yellow or green mucus is normal. Mucus often thickens and changes color after a few days. It does not mean you need antibiotics.

• Cold: comes on slowly and mostly affects the nose and throat. You can usually go about your day.
• Flu (trangkaso): comes on within hours, often with a sudden high fever, body aches and exhaustion. See our flu guide.
• Allergies (allergic rhinitis): sneezing, an itchy nose and itchy, watery eyes that start within minutes of contact with a trigger, such as house dust mites or animal dander (tiny flakes of skin from cats and dogs).
• COVID-19: a mild case can look just like a cold. If you are at higher risk, check with a health worker.
• Dengue: a high fever with a bad headache, body pain, nausea or a rash is not a typical cold. In the Philippines it could be dengue, so get checked. See our guide on dengue warning signs.

Unsure? Describe your symptoms to our free AI symptoms assistant.

Colds are caused by viruses. More than 200 kinds can cause one; rhinoviruses are the most common. Adults catch about 2 to 3 colds a year.

The virus spreads through droplets when a sick person sneezes or coughs near you, and when you touch something with the virus on it, like a doorknob or a toy, then touch your eyes, nose or mouth.

You can pass a cold on from a few days before symptoms start until they are gone. People are most contagious in the first 2 to 3 days.

About common beliefs. Many of us grew up hearing that sipon comes from getting caught in the rain, sleeping with wet hair, bathing at night or sleeping in front of the electric fan. Colds are indeed more common in the rainy season, so the link is easy to understand. But a cold only starts when a cold virus reaches your nose, eyes or mouth, usually from another person. That is why handwashing, not staying dry, is the best protection.

There is no cure for a cold; it goes away on its own. These steps help you feel better meanwhile:

• Rest. Stay home if you have a fever or feel too unwell for work or school.
• Drink plenty of fluids, such as water, soup or warm salabat (ginger tea). Go easy on coffee.
• Gargle with warm salt water for a sore throat. This is for adults, not for children.
• Try a warm honey drink: hot water with calamansi or lemon and a little honey. Never give honey to a baby under 1 year old, because of the risk of botulism, a rare but serious illness, and don't give hot drinks to small children.
• Breathe in steam to loosen a stuffy nose, for example by sitting in the bathroom with a hot shower running. If you do tuob over a bowl of hot water, be careful, and never let children do tuob: they can be badly scalded.
• Use saline (salt water) nose drops or sprays, or rinse your nose (see below).
• Avoid smoke, including secondhand smoke. It makes symptoms worse.

Rinsing the nose with salt water (saline) may ease a runny or blocked nose. The studies are small, but rinsing is generally safe when done properly. A ready-made saline kit from the botika is easiest. To make your own:

1. Use safe water only: distilled or sterile water, or water boiled for 3 to 5 minutes and cooled until lukewarm. Keep boiled water in a clean, covered container and use it within a day. Never use unboiled tap water. Germs that are harmless to swallow can survive in the nose and, rarely, cause a very serious infection.
2. Wash your hands. Mix about one teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of baking soda into just over half a liter of the cooled water.
3. Over a sink, sniff a little from your cupped palm or a rinse bottle into one nostril at a time, breathing through your mouth, and let it drain out. Try not to let it run down your throat.
4. Repeat up to three times a day with a fresh mix. Wash and dry the bottle after use.

If you have a weak immune system, ask your doctor first. For young children, saline drops are easier; ask a health worker before a full rinse. See a doctor if things get worse, or if you get nosebleeds, fever or headaches while rinsing.

Cold medicines do not make a cold end sooner, but some ease symptoms. A pharmacist can help you choose.

• Paracetamol or ibuprofen ease fever and aches. If dengue is possible, use paracetamol and avoid ibuprofen and aspirin, which can raise the risk of bleeding.
• Never give aspirin to anyone under 16. Adults should avoid it for colds too: it can cause stomach bleeding.
• Decongestant nose sprays unblock the nose for a while. Use them only for the few days the leaflet allows, never more than a week, or the stuffiness can get worse. They are not for children under 6.
• Combination cold tablets mix several medicines. Many already contain paracetamol, so an extra paracetamol tablet can mean too much, which can harm the liver. Read the label.
• Phenylephrine tablets may not help a blocked nose. In November 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration proposed removing phenylephrine taken by mouth from cold products because it does not work as a decongestant (not because it is unsafe). Ask a pharmacist about other options.
• Some decongestant tablets are not suitable in pregnancy or breastfeeding, or with high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, an overactive thyroid, glaucoma, an enlarged prostate, or liver or kidney problems, and they can clash with some blood pressure or depression medicines. Ask a pharmacist first.

Vitamins and supplements. For most people, vitamin C does not prevent colds and shortens them only slightly. Zinc lozenges started within a day of symptoms may shorten a cold a little but can cause nausea and a bad taste. Never use zinc nose sprays: they have been linked to a permanent loss of smell. There is little evidence for echinacea or garlic.

Antibiotics kill bacteria, not the viruses that cause colds. They will not make sipon go away faster, but they can cause diarrhea and nausea. Using them when they are not needed also helps germs become resistant, and the World Health Organization names this misuse as one of the main drivers of drug-resistant infections.

So don't take leftover antibiotics or ones a relative gives you. If a doctor finds a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia, they will prescribe what is needed.

Children catch more colds than adults, and their colds last longer. A child may be fussy, feed or sleep poorly, or vomit after coughing.

Safe ways to help:

• Keep breastfeeding, and offer the breast more often. Breast milk also helps protect babies against these infections.
• Give more to drink. Calamansi juice, a safe remedy in the Philippine child illness guide, can soothe the throat.
• Clear a blocked nose with saline drops and gentle suction with a bulb syringe.
• Skip cough syrups, mucolytics and decongestant medicines such as phenylpropanolamine for children under 5. The Philippine IMCI guide that health workers use calls them harmful. Decongestant sprays are not for children under 6; ask a doctor before any cold medicine at ages 5 and 6.
• No honey before age 1, no aspirin, and no tuob.

Count your child's breathing for a full minute while they are calm. Fast breathing can be a sign of pneumonia: 50 breaths a minute or more at 2 to 12 months, or 40 or more at 1 to 5 years.

See a health worker straight away if your child breathes fast or with difficulty, cannot drink or breastfeed, becomes sicker, or develops a fever. Go back if the cold is not better after 5 days, or for a TB or asthma check if the cough lasts over 2 weeks.

Babies under 2 months need a check the same day if they feed poorly, breathe 60 times a minute or more, have a fever, feel cold, or move only when touched. If your baby or child has a fever, see our guide on fever in babies and children.

Most colds don't need a doctor. Sometimes a cold leads to a sinus or ear infection, bronchitis or pneumonia, more often in people with asthma, another lung condition or a weak immune system. For advice or a check:

• Pharmacist at the botika: ask which cold medicine is safe with your other medicines.
• Barangay health station or rural health unit (RHU): a good first stop, especially for children. Health workers can count a child's breathing and check for pneumonia. Find one near you.
• PhilHealth YAKAP clinic: as of 2026, every Filipino can pick one YAKAP clinic for consultations, lab tests the YAKAP doctor orders, and prescribed medicines worth up to ₱20,000 each year. Public YAKAP clinics don't charge; a private one may ask for at most ₱900 for the whole year. Choose a clinic in the eGov app, on the PhilHealth Member Portal or at a PhilHealth office. Details are in our PhilHealth YAKAP guide.

In the Philippines, a cough of 2 weeks or more needs a TB test at a health center, even if it began as a cold: see our TB symptoms guide. To talk it over first, book a call with one of our nurses.

There is no vaccine for the common cold, and the flu vaccine does not prevent colds. These habits help:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing your nose and before eating. Without water, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Keep unwashed hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow, then throw the tissue away.
• Don't share cups, spoons, towels or toys with someone who has a cold.
• Wipe often-touched things, like doorknobs and phones.
• Stay home while you have a fever or feel unwell.