What Is the Duration of Influenza Symptoms?

Influenza, or flu, is a potentially serious viral infection that causes significant physical discomfort and misery for its sufferers. Rather than being just a little more serious than a bad cold, the flu sidelines up to 200,000 people every year and can kill 36,000 in a flu season.

Flu Duration

• When someone has come down with the flu, he can expect to be sick in bed for approximately 5 days. When influenza hits, it comes on hard. The victim's temperature is high; usually more than 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Body aches, physical exhaustion, severe headache, sore throat, a dry cough and nasal congestion are also symptoms. A child with flu might also suffer from vomiting and/or diarrhea. After 5 days, he might still feel tiredness (weakness) and have a cough; other symptoms have usually gone away.

Secondary Infection

• The flu patient who is recovering from her flu symptoms can develop a secondary infection, such as an ear infection, pneumonia or sinusitis. This happens because she may still have mucous or fluid in her Eustachian tubes, sinuses or lungs. Generally what happens is she begins to feel better, resumes her daily activities even as she is still coughing and having to blow her nose. While her immune system is still getting back to normal, some bacterial infection finds a hospitable environment (moisture and warmth) and establishes itself more easily than it normally would.

Transmission by Adults

• Unfortunately, flu victims can be contagious for a full day before they begin to feel and show symptoms of illness. An adult can also spread the flu for approximately 5 days after he becomes sick. This has implications for people who feel duty-bound to show up at work even when they are feverish, coughing and obviously sick enough to be at home in bed. He also needs to remember that the flu virus can live for 48 to 72 hours on surfaces he has touched, such as his phone, computer keyboard, doorknobs, desks and printers.

Transmission by Children

• The child suffering from the flu can spread her flu germs for approximately 10 days after she gets sick. This is even more significant than the adult who chooses to go to work sick; the child is a "sponge" for viruses and bacteria. A child will touch surfaces everywhere she goes; she puts her hands in her mouth, rubs and picks her nose, then touches another child or the blackboard in her classroom. If she is about to become sick, she is spreading the flu virus and will continue to do so for nearly 2 weeks.

Identification

• Influenza is a virus that infects the respiratory tracts of its victims. Flu can establish itself in the throat, nose, sinuses and bronchial tubes. If someone has some kind of an underlying health condition, such as asthma, he runs the risk of his asthma becoming worse. The flu can be deadly for those with lung and heart conditions, diabetics and those with compromised immune systems.