Course of uncomplicated viral upper respiratory infection (URI)

The course of most uncomplicated viral URIs is 5 to 10 days. Most patients with viral URIs are afebrile. If fever is present, it tends to occur on the first 2 days of illness, in concert with constitutional symptoms (eg, headache, myalgia). As fever and/or constitutional symptoms resolve, respiratory symptoms become more prominent, peaking in severity on days 3 to 6 of illness. Respiratory symptoms may continue to be present on day 10 of illness but are less severe than earlier in the course.