Pets and human infections (sinus, infection, salt, cure)

[hmitauer]

I have a sinus infection (I think) and I am trying to cure myself with steam and salt water irrigation but I am worried that my son's dog will catch my cold. I admit I hug him and he jumps up and will get my face faster than I can pull away. I want to believe that I don't have to isolate myself from my pets (my son's dog and my cat) when I am sick. They are a real comfort to me when I feel really yucky.
Some advice please.

[FedUpInFtMyers]

I was a volunteer at an animal shelter (dogs and cats) for a long time, and we observed infection control there, of course. Anyways, we had all different kinds of rooms there (ringworm, feline respiratory illness, dogs with kennel cough, etc.), and we all worked with the animals when we were ill and also we were in those closed-off, isolated rooms and never became ill. There was never any concern about us getting or giving respiratory illness to any of the animals.

There are shared illnesses (like ringworm and I believe strep, among others) so you might just want to do a web search to answer your question more thoroughly.