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What Is a Summer Cold — and Is It Worse?

Just because it’s warm out doesn’t mean you can’t catch a cold

Rachel Nania,

AARP

En español

Published June 19, 2024

woman in yellow shirt sneezing on a tropical background

Photo Collage: AARP (Source: Getty Images)

Runny nose? Scratchy throat? Constant sneezing? If you find yourself battling these symptoms this summer, it could be a cold. Despite the name, you can still catch one when it’s warm out.

“Viruses don’t pay attention to the calendar,” says Jill Foster, M.D., a professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at University of Minnesota Medical School.

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It’s true that some viruses are more seasonal than others. Influenza, for example, typically peaks in the fall and winter and peters off in the spring. But there are more than 200 viruses that cause the common cold, and while some of them, like rhinoviruses, are more likely to pop up in the cold-weather months, others tend to circulate in the summer.

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“Traditionally, the most common virus that's responsible for summer colds is enteroviruses,” says Lauren Block, M.D., a primary care physician with Northwell Health and an assistant professor with the Institute of Health System Science at Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York.

This family of viruses causes about 10 to 15 million infections each year in the United States, usually between June and October, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To be clear, we’re talking about non-polio enteroviruses. There are some strains of the virus that can also cause polio, but vaccines have mostly wiped them out from Western countries, the NIH says.

Are summer cold symptoms worse?

Generally speaking, summer colds are not necessarily worse than their winter counterparts. The symptoms caused by enteroviruses and rhinoviruses are similar. What may make a summer cold seem worse, however, is feeling so crummy when it's not your typical cold and flu season.

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If you get a summer cold, you may experience the following:

Sneezing
Muscle aches
Runny nose or nasal congestion
Cough
Sore throat
Fever

Enteroviruses can also trigger a skin rash or mouth blisters, and people may experience an upset stomach or other digestive issues, according to Cleveland Clinic.

If your symptoms are worse — more flu-like, even — it could be another bug. COVID-19 hasn’t settled into a seasonal pattern, Foster says, so you might want to test for that. If you’re positive, you could be eligible for prescription treatment — and the earlier you start the medication, the better it works.

Another virus that can cause respiratory symptoms that mimic a cold — or worse — is human metapneumovirus. While it tends to circulate more in the late winter and spring seasons, Foster says she’s seen cases year round. “That one is kind of a nasty one,” she says. “It tends to have more fever with it, has more cough with it. That one can really look like the flu.”

There is no specific antiviral treatment for a human metapneumovirus infection. However, researchers are working on developing a vaccine to help with prevention.

Summer cold vs. allergies: How to tell the difference

This time of year it can be difficult to tell if your symptoms are due to a cold-causing virus or allergies. One way to distinguish, says Foster: Unless you have asthma, allergies rarely trigger a cough. “So if you're coughing, it's probably not allergies.”

Another giveaway: You have a fever. Allergies seldom cause a spike in temperature. Plus, allergy symptoms tend to be longer lasting, Block says. “So if you've had symptoms for a few weeks, it may indeed be allergies rather than a virus.”

Preventing and treating a summer cold

Hoping to stay cold-free this summer? Be sure to wash your hands often. “Everybody was really good about carrying hand sanitizer with them and washing their hands through COVID,” Foster says. “We should really try to upregulate that again.”

There’s no one-and-done knockout treatment for a summer cold. Keeping up with fluids is important, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says. And over-the-counter medications may help relieve some of the achy symptoms that often accompany a viral infection. “That [symptom] is really coming from the immune system fighting it,” Foster says.

A nasal saline rinse can help to clear out congestion. “It makes you breathe better, especially if you do it before you go to bed,” Foster says. When it comes to soothing a cough, there’s plenty of evidence that honey can help.

If you start to experience more severe symptoms — you have a fever over 100.5 for a number of days, you feel weak, are having trouble keeping down fluids or feel short of breath — seek medical attention, Block says. “People who are older and who are immunocompromised are more likely to have this happen from a variety of viruses,” Block says.

Finally, while there isn’t a vaccine that can help prevent the common cold, there are vaccines that can blunt the symptoms of other respiratory illness-causing germs, like COVID, RSV and the flu. “All the viruses and other illnesses that are out there is more reason to take advantage of all the vaccines that we have available,” Block says. “People just really need to put [those vaccine appointments] on their schedule for September or October,” Foster adds.

Rachel Nania is an award-winning health editor and writer at AARP.org, who covers a range of topics including diseases and treatments.

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