Host: When should you call a doctor?

Ronald Turner: Well, you should call a doctor any time that the cold symptoms fall outside the ordinary symptoms that we have described. So, if you are having an upper respiratory infection and all of the sudden, begin to have fever as a part of that, that is unusual and that may suggest that something else is going on. If you are having common cold symptoms that all of a sudden a pain becomes unusual symptom or a more prominent symptom, that is not typical and that should prompt a visit or a consultation with the physician.

The other things I guess, is that if a cold persists for more than 10 days to two weeks, then that might suggest that there are other things going on and suggest that you might need physician care. I would say that many people have cold symptoms that are getting better and persist for a long period of time. That would not be too worrisome. Symptoms that are severe and stay severe for a long time would be of concern.