Symptoms

Symptoms of a viral infection depend on where you’re infected, but some common ones include:

• Flu-like symptoms: fever, head and body aches, fatigue.
• Upper respiratory symptoms: sore throat, cough, sneezing.
• Digestive symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
• Skin conditions: rashes, sores, blisters, warts.
• Many viral infections don’t cause any symptoms.

Causes

Common ways you can get viral infections include:

• From other people (through coughing, sneezing or close contact).
• From surfaces or objects that someone with a virus has touched (like countertops, doorknobs or phones).
• Through vaginal, oral or anal sex.
• From a bite from an infected animal, mosquito or tick.
• From eating contaminated food or swallowing contaminated water.

Treatments

Specific medications are only available for a few viral infections. For viruses that can cause life-threatening or chronic illness, a provider may prescribe antiviral medications or treatment that prevents you from getting sick after being exposed to a virus.

For infections that rarely cause serious illness, like the common cold, you can usually treat the symptoms at home while you wait for them to go away on their own. No, antibiotics can’t treat or cure illnesses caused by a virus. You provider will only give you antibiotics if they think you have a bacterial infection.