Is It the Flu or a Cold?

Each day, many people visit their doctors with common cold or flu symptoms. They seem to go hand in hand, but some people may not know the difference between the flu and a cold. All we do seem to know is that there is no cure for either, but there are medications to help alleviate the symptoms of cold and flu. The only problem is that we need to know whether we are dealing with the actual flu or the common cold before we can treat it effectively.

The Cold

• Cold symptoms are usually localized within the area of the head. Symptoms of a cold can include a runny nose, sore throat and sneezing. Most people who develop a cold do so in the colder seasons of autumn and winter; this is because people spend a lot more time inside keeping out of the cold weather and in closer proximity to others. The central heating that is present in most homes is responsible for drying out membranes within the nose, called mucous membranes, which means that you are at a higher risk of infections. Colds can be developed at any time of the year, though, and as there are so many different strains of viruses that create colds, 200 in fact, many people get more than one cold within a single year.

The Flu

• The flu is a respiratory infection caused by viruses, and the onset of the flu differs far from the cold, as you generally feel unwell all over the body with fever, chills, headaches and aching muscles. The flu is more common between the middle of October and March. The fact that the flu is more seasonal than the common cold makes diagnosis easier. There are currently only three major types of flu about (Type A, Type B, Type C), unlike the hundreds of types of the common cold. This is why it is rare, although not unheard of, that any one person would get the flu more than once within a year. See Resources.

Interesting

• Most people who have the flu develop a temperature along with the other symptoms, whereas with the common cold your temperature raises only slightly if at all. Fever with a cold is more common with young children, as their immune systems are not yet fully developed. When suffering from the common cold, the appetite usually remains the same as beforehand, although sufferers may prefer foods that are easier to swallow if they are suffering from a sore or scratchy throat. With the flu virus, many people find they have a lack of or no appetite at all, especially if they experience vomiting as one of the symptoms.

Time Frame

• Cold symptoms usually disappear altogether or begin to improve within a few days and are completely gone within about a week. There are usually no long-lasting effects for a cold, whereas the flu can lead to further complications of existing medical conditions like low or inefficient immune systems among those with lung and heart problems as well as the very young or aged. The symptoms of the flu can last for many weeks afterward and can continue to cause exhaustion in the sufferer for weeks after the rest of the symptoms have passed.

Treatment

• Although there is no cure for either the cold or the flu, there is an annual vaccine available that is developed from the strains of flu that were around the previous year. Also available are anti-flu drugs that can shorten the amount of time you have the symptoms and can also reduce the risk of being infected in the first place. The only treatment for the common cold is using over-the-counter pain relief and decongestants. Antibiotics will not help either a cold or the flu, but if you do have complications from the flu, antibiotics can help and are commonly used to treat pneumonia.

A Flu Past

• At the beginning of this century, a flu epidemic known as the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more than 20 million people. Each year, more than 36,000 people in the U.S die from the flu. Deaths associated with the flu are usually teamed with immunity weakness and/or underlying major illness. The cold, however annoying, is nowhere near as dangerous as the flu that it has been partnered with for so many years. See Resources.