Is RSV contagious to adults?
Last updated September 3, 2026.
Yes - RSV spreads between people of all ages, and adults are very much part of the chain: grandparents pick it up from toddlers and back again. Healthy adults usually get an ordinary cold; the danger concentrates in adults over 60 to 75, those with chronic heart or lung disease, and the immunocompromised, for whom RSV can mean pneumonia. It circulates in fall and winter, usually peaking in December and January per the CDC.
What to do
- Give the vulnerable a few days of distance. A healthy adult's cold can be an infant's or grandparent's hospitalization.
- Mask for close caregiving. RSV travels on droplets and surfaces both.
- Ask older adults about the vaccine. RSV vaccines now exist for older adults and for pregnancy.
- Escalate breathing trouble. Wheezing or shortness of breath after a cold in an older adult: get seen.
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