50 free Common Cold trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This common cold trivia quiz covers the most frequent infectious disease in humans, from the 200-plus viruses that cause it to the folk remedies that don't. It asks how many colds the average adult and child catch each year, how long the virus can survive on a doorknob, why symptoms are really your own immune response, why there is still no vaccine, and what actually shortens a cold (very little, and only if you start early). It also digs into the science and the history: the Ebers papyrus, the 1914 Leipzig experiment that proved a filterable agent was to blame, the volunteers who took 'holidays' at Britain's Common Cold Unit in Salisbury, the discovery there of the first human coronavirus, the temperature the main cold virus prefers, the physiology of sneezing, and the origins of 'bless you', chicken soup as 'Jewish penicillin', Kleenex and VapoRub. Colds versus flu, antibiotics, decongestants and the enormous economic cost round it out. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's articles on the common cold, rhinovirus, the Common Cold Unit, sneezing and the remedies, and each explanation adds one further fact. Good for biology students, pub quiz science rounds and anyone currently sniffling their way through a box of tissues.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly how many virus strains are implicated in causing the common cold?
Well over 200
That variety, plus rapid mutation, is why no vaccine exists.
Q 02Which group of viruses causes the largest share of colds, up to 40 percent?
Rhinoviruses
They have more than 100 known serotypes; the cause of 20 to 30 percent of colds remains unidentified.
Q 03How many colds does the average adult get per year?
Two to three
Children average six to eight, and infections cluster in winter.
Q 04How soon after exposure can cold symptoms begin?
Within about 16 hours
They usually peak two to four days after onset and clear within seven to ten days.
Q 05What is the average duration of a cough caused by a cold?
18 days
In children the cough lasts more than 25 days in about one case in ten.
Q 06What mainly produces the symptoms of a cold?
The body's own immune response
The main cold virus barely damages the nasal lining; it binds ICAM-1 receptors and triggers inflammatory mediators.
Q 07For how long can the commonest cold viruses survive on surfaces?
Over 18 hours
Hands then carry the virus to eyes or nose, which is why hand washing is the main prevention.
Q 08What does the colour of nasal mucus, from clear to green, tell you?
Nothing about whether it is viral or bacterial
All colds are viral, so antibiotics never help.
Q 09Which symptom is less likely in influenza than in a common cold?
A runny nose
Flu symptoms are usually more severe; in adults a cough plus fever points more towards flu.
Q 10Why is there no vaccine for the common cold?
The viruses are too many and mutate too fast
Prevention comes down to hand washing, not touching your face and avoiding sick people.
Q 11Which supplement may shorten a cold by up to a third if started within 24 hours?
Zinc
Some nasal zinc products have caused loss of smell, and reviews still disagree on whether to recommend it.
Q 12What effect has regular vitamin C supplementation been shown to have on colds?
It may shorten them slightly but not prevent them
Linus Pauling argued in 1970 that humans should take at least 2,300 mg a day, far above official recommendations.
Q 13What proportion of the benefit from cold remedies is attributed to the placebo effect?
A large part of it
Q 21A cold outbreak at a British Antarctic base after 17 weeks of isolation was blamed on what?
A contaminated object or a symptom-free carrier
Transmission from animals is considered highly unlikely.
Q 22Is there evidence that recirculated cabin air spreads colds on commercial flights?
No, but sitting close to others raises the risk
Daycare centres and schools are the classic amplifiers, with children bringing infections home.
Q 23Which ancient text, the oldest surviving medical work, describes cold symptoms and treatments?
Rest, fluids and gargling warm salt water are considered reasonable conservative measures.
Q 14In 2009, Canada restricted over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children up to what age?
Six and under
Evidence of effectiveness in children is lacking and there is potential for harm.
Q 15What is the effect of antibiotics on the common cold?
None; they cause overall harm through side effects
More than a third of Americans who see a doctor for a cold still leave with a prescription, fuelling resistance.
Q 16Which oral decongestant does Wikipedia say appears effective in adults?
Pseudoephedrine
Antihistamines help only for a day or two and cause drowsiness; ipratropium spray eases a runny nose but not stuffiness.
Q 17Under what conditions is moderate exercise considered safe with a cold?
If symptoms are confined to the head
Fever, widespread muscle aches or fatigue are the signs to rest instead.
Q 18What is the estimated basic reproduction number of common cold viruses?
2 to 3
Each infected person typically passes it to two or three others.
Q 19In what proportion of colds does an ear infection develop as a complication?
About 30 percent
Sinusitis follows in about 8 percent; serious complications are mostly confined to the very old, very young or immunosuppressed.
Q 20Should a breastfeeding mother with a cold keep breastfeeding?
Yes, the virus is not passed in breast milk
By the time she has symptoms the baby has already been exposed anyway.
The Egyptian Ebers papyrus
The English name 'cold' only came into use in the 16th century, from the resemblance to the effects of cold weather.
Q 24When did the name 'cold' come into use for the illness?
The 16th century
Its cause was not identified until the 1950s.
Q 25Near which English city was the Medical Research Council's Common Cold Unit based from 1946?
Salisbury
It occupied the Harvard Hospital at Harnham Down, a wartime gift from the American Red Cross and Harvard University.
Q 26How did the Common Cold Unit present a stay at its facility in adverts recruiting volunteers?
As an unusual holiday opportunity
Volunteers stayed about ten days, kept apart from each other, and could walk in the countryside but not visit residential areas.
Q 27How many scientific papers did the Common Cold Unit produce between 1946 and 1989?
1,006
Its only treatment success in all that time was zinc gluconate lozenges, completed two years before it closed.
Q 28Which family of viruses was first identified in nasal washes from a boy at the Common Cold Unit in 1960?
Coronaviruses
Strain B814 was reported in the BMJ in 1965; June Almeida imaged it and a group of eight virologists named the family in 1968.
Q 29In which year was the rhinovirus discovered at the Common Cold Unit?
1956
In the 1970s the unit also showed interferon given during incubation offered some protection, but no practical treatment followed.
Q 30What did German bacteriologist Walther Kruse do in 1914 to show a filterable agent caused colds?
Filtered a colleague's diluted nasal secretions and dosed his staff
Four of the twelve staff who received the bacteria-free filtrate went on to develop colds.