Safety & Training Short: How Do Colds Spread?

How do colds spread?

• Colds can spread person to person; often during casual contact, e.g., shaking hands.
• Researchers know now that the common cold virus, called rhinovirus, can also transfer from an object to a person.
• A rhinovirus can live for an extended period of time on an object called a fomite. 
• A fomite is an object that an infected person may touch, such as a telephone handset or a keyboard.
• Later another person touches the same object and transmits the rhinovirus.  The rhinovirus can live on a fomite for a matter of days, even when dry.