How Long Does It Take to Get a Cold After Exposure to the Virus?

The person standing behind you at the bank can't stop coughing. The cashier at the supermarket sneezes right before she handed you your change. Everyday you are exposed to millions of germs that are trying to invade your body but how do you know if you're going to catch whatever that person next to you has? Well today I'm revealing ones and for all how long before I catch that and when you know you're in the clear.

So everybody four self proclaimed hypochondriacts to play along please welcome Maureen. Heres how we're going to play? I'm [xx] the contagious infection. All you going to do is to hand that buzzer is hit it when the number of days in the calendar has come up that you think correctly predicts how long before you get sick.

Okay. You know how to play? Yeah. Audience you can help her out. The first contagious infection is the common cold. Are we ready? How soon after someone captures the [xx] until you get sick, right? Okay. Start the count down. Get your hands ready. Start the countdown, go. So two and a half days you said.

Two and a half. The correct answer is one day. [APPLAUSE] >>It feels awkward as the virus enters into your respiratory system and as soon as it gets in there the immune system is responding to it. And its the immune system that causes the symptoms more than anything else. You not in the clear until three days have passed.

Okay. So you can still get a late response but most people within a day will start to feel not quite on target.