How are colds passed from person to person?
Cold viruses usually enter the body when a person touches an object that has cold viruses on it, and then touches his/her nose or eyes. One study showed that it is less likely to catch a cold by “open-mouth kissing” than by the hand-nose or hand-eye route. Cold viruses can be “shed” for as long as 3 weeks, so you can catch a cold from someone even after they have been ill with it for a while.
