Busting common cold myths

• Myth: You are more likely to catch a cold in the winter.
• Fact: The "common cold" has nothing to do with cold weather.
• Cold viruses are actually more active in the spring and fall.
• Myth: You're more likely to catch a cold from someone who sneezes than by holding or shaking someone's hand.
• Fact: Colds are most commonly spread by hand-to-hand contact, so be sure to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, especially if you come in contact with common areas such as doorknobs, telephones, public restrooms, automated teller machines and elevator buttons, where other hands have been.
• Myth: A bowl of chicken soup will cure the common cold.
• Fact: Although it cannot cure it, chicken soup certainly does help cold sufferers.
• The soup provides nutrition, while electrolytes in the broth help keep you hydrated.
• It can also help soothe an irritated throat.
• Myth: Drinking milk causes more mucus build up.
• Fact: Milk cannot be converted into mucus.
• Myth: Antibiotics can treat a bad cold.
• Fact: Antibiotics can only treat bacterial infections and are not effective against viruses that cause the cold and flu.
• Myth: You should feed a cold and starve a fever.
• Fact: No one knows exactly where this old saying originated, but there is no scientific evidence that eating will help ease cold symptoms, or avoiding food will reduce a fever.