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Did you read The Hot Zone?  If you think you have but have forgotten it, here's a refresher: Monkeys. Ebola. Bat droppings. Bleeding from the eyeballs.

Gripping!

The Hot Zone is a nonfiction story of an ebola outbreak, that pesky hemorrhagic viral infection that is highly deadly and contagious.

Certainly, if you think you have ebola and start bleeding from your eyeballs, you should be quarantined and should not, I repeat, NOT, go the grocery store to pick up a few items before checking yourself into the hospital.

But, upper respiratory infections, a.k.a. COLDS, are in a slightly different category.

Colds, often manifested by a profuse amount of running mucus, a.k.a. snot, have a contagious period that is less than the total duration of symptoms.

For example, just because Jolie shows up on Monday to school with a snotface does not mean that all of the other children's parents should give Jolie's mom the stink eye.

In general, the contagious period is from onset of runny nose to the point when the fever resolves. After that, they're just a mess to look at but not actually contagious.

So, put away that stink eye and save it for the inconsiderate wench who brings her ebola-infected monkey to the kids' dance class.