The symptoms are all too familiar: a miserable week or more of cough, aching body, and fever. But in truth, you really can’t tell if it’s flu when there are many illnesses that start out with flu-like symptoms until it escalates into something more serious. You should know how to tell the difference, especially when there’s coronavirus fatally circulating in the air.
Understanding the difference between illnesses with flu-like symptoms and full-blown flu can help you get the right treatment and bring the rates of diagnoses of the influenza virus down. Prior to the pandemic, the 2019-2020 US flu season resulted in 22,000 deaths with most of the affected from the 0-4 and 18-49 age demographic. This is based on the influenza report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Flu and COVID-19
According to the CDC, flu is mainly caused by two types of influenza viruses: A and B. There are two others, influenza viruses C and D, but they are not known to cause seasonal flu, epidemics, or pandemics. Only influenza viruses A and B can result in that scale.
Influenza B, the most common of the two, can only be found in humans. Influenza A, on the other hand, is found in animals and can jump to humans. It can cause pandemics such as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
Both influenza viruses A and B can produce symptoms that include fever, chills, sore throat, cough, nasal congestion, body or muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is important to note, however, that all these symptoms may or may not appear in someone with flu.
Mild complications can result in sinus and ear infections. Severe complications can result in pneumonia, myocarditis (heart inflammation), encephalitis (brain inflammation), rhabdomyolysis and myositis (muscle tissue inflammation), multiple organ failure, respiratory tract infection, and sepsis, the body’s last resort to fight infection.
COVID-19 on the other hand, although they share almost all the symptoms above, and they affect the respiratory system, is not caused by an influenza virus. It is caused by a coronavirus. It is more severe and can spread easily. Recovery takes longer and its symptoms can linger.
If you have flu, you can experience symptoms 1 to 4 days after infection. But if you have COVID-19, it can take five days for symptoms to appear although you can already experience a few of them in as little as two days or as long as 14 days after infection. With COVID-19, you can also experience difficulty in breathing and loss of taste and smell.
With that clear and aside, here are other common illnesses that could initially manifest as flu, but turns out otherwise.
Cold
Colds have the same symptoms as flu such as nasal congestion, coughing, headache, and sore throat. It can cause a low-grade fever, especially in children. But, it doesn’t cause body or muscle aches. You can recover from it in a few days to a week. With flu, it could take longer.
Strep Throat
Strep throat is an infection of the throat and tonsils caused by streptococcus bacteria. It leads to inflammation of the throat and tonsils resulting in intense throat pain, fever, muscle aches, and chills. But unlike flu, it doesn’t cause cough with nasal congestion.
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a lung infection. A combination of different kinds of germs — viruses, bacteria, and fungi — can cause it. It can be mild to severe with flu-like symptoms such as cough, difficulty breathing, fever, and chills. But like colds, pneumonia doesn’t cause muscle aches and it can take 2-3 weeks after infection for symptoms to appear. It’s one of the reasons why most cases end up in hospitalization.
Some of its symptoms differ, too. You can experience shallow or fast breathing, bloody mucus in a cough, and chest pain when coughing or breathing. Your nails and lips can also turn blue because of the lack of oxygen in your body.
Lifestyle Remedies
Aside from sharing symptoms with flu, these common illnesses have a common denominator. All of them affect the lungs and air passageways. And with coronavirus around, these illnesses emphasize the need for good quality indoor air.
Aside from antiviral drugs prescribed by physicians, there are lifestyle remedies that can help ease flu symptoms. You should drink lots of fluids, get plenty of rest and sleep, take over-the-counter pain relievers, eat healthy, and improve air quality at home. For the latter and for maintenance purposes, have your air conditioning unit checked by a licensed air conditioning repair shop. You’ll thank them later.
Other illnesses and diseases such as meningitis, conjunctivitis, stomach aches, and more start out with flu-like symptoms. If you’re unsure about your symptoms, go to your physician right away. You should get tested to determine what’s causing your illness. That way, you can receive appropriate care and if it’s serious, your healthcare provider can help track its spread. In the meantime, wash your hands always and keep a safe distance from others.
