Two Common Fall Viruses Are Running Higher Now, Doctors Explain How to Stay Well

Sneezing and coughing are common in the fall, but there are still steps you can take to stay healthy this season.

Dealing with a stuffy nose or sneezing these days?

Along with other illnesses circulating this fall, including COVID and flu, rates of rhinovirus and enterovirus — both cold-causing viruses — have been elevated across the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control data.

“This is not unusual for this time of year,” said Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, an infectious disease physician at UChicago Medicine. “We think of these as seasonal respiratory viruses that often start to increase or creep up around the fall, usually when kids are back at school and there’s more indoor activities in general.”

Although enterovirus and rhinovirus are increasing, “I don’t want people to be worried that these are causing spikes in hospitalizations or people getting super sick,” Hazra said. “We typically see this occur at this time of year. So it’s not something that’s a major cause of alarm.”

Even so, no one wants to catch a cold or pass an illness to someone else. Here’s what to know about symptoms and the best ways to reduce your risk.

These viruses can bring on the usual cold symptoms, including cough, runny nose and fever.

“[Rhinovirus and enterovirus] are part of a very large family of closely related viruses that can cause a variety of different syndromes,” said Dr. Ryan Carroll, an infectious diseases physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“These two [viruses] are some of the most common viruses that we see circulate in the community, and they cause some of the most common syndromes that we see as well, which are going to be things like the common cold or gastrointestinal illnesses,” Carroll said.

“We typically think of upper respiratory symptoms related to rhinovirus,” Hazra said. That includes congestion, runny nose, cough and fever. “Enterovirus is also a respiratory virus,” which can lead to cough, runny nose, congestion and fever as well, Hazra added.

In addition to cough and congestion, enterovirus can also cause gastrointestinal illness or even lesions on the hands and feet. More specifically, the enterovirus family can lead to nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, “but the symptoms are pretty variable,” Carroll added.

Viruses that cause common cold symptoms are elevated throughout the United States.

Good hand hygiene, masking when needed and vaccination can help lower your risk.

Washing your hands thoroughly and often can help protect against rhinovirus, enterovirus and other fall viruses such as flu and COVID, Carroll said. It is especially important to wash up after being in large groups, after using the bathroom, before eating and before touching your face, he noted.

“You may notice hospital systems may start to increase masking in healthcare settings ... masking, depending on what your risk calculus is, is something that’s important to recognize,” Hazra said.

Wearing a mask can reduce your chances of catching a virus and can also help protect other people from getting sick from you.

“And then getting vaccinated for other respiratory viruses is helpful because sometimes, particularly kids can be co-infected with multiple respiratory viruses,” Hazra said.

Routine vaccination against viruses such as COVID and flu can help protect against co-infection or “potentially having a really bad case of multiple viruses at once,” Hazra noted.

If you do come down with a cold or another upper respiratory virus this season, stay home while you are sick, he added.

Although these viruses often cause symptoms that can generally be managed at home, they can be more serious for some people, including those with weakened immune systems or underlying lung disease, Carroll said.

“We want to be very mindful to try to protect those particular community members as much as we can,” he said, emphasizing the importance of hand-washing and staying away from others when sick.

Fall is a challenging time for upper respiratory illnesses, but the right precautions can help reduce your chances of getting sick and limit the spread to the people around you.