How to Know if You Ha E Cold or Flu
(CNN)Do you take a sore throat, a runny olfactory organ and musculus aches? Information technology could be a common common cold, a case of the flu -- or Covid-19.
The illnesses all share similar symptoms, sometimes making it difficult to distinguish which is putting you nether the weather.
Example rates of Covid-nineteen take been on the rising every bit the Omicron variant has spread, but hospitalization numbers appear to be staying relatively depression. For vaccinated people, evidence suggests that infection with this variant seems less likely to be severe, epidemiologist and former Detroit Wellness Section executive director, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said.
"The important thing to remember is a vaccine is like giving a 'be on the lookout' call to your immune system. And so its capacity to place, target and destroy viruses is so much higher every fourth dimension nosotros take another boost of the vaccine," El-Sayed said. "It makes sense that the symptoms yous would experience are milder if you have been vaccinated."
That does not mean, withal, that infections shouldn't be taken seriously, he added, especially when because the risk of overwhelming health care systems.
"Just because the per-individual risk of severe affliction may be lower, that doesn't mean on a societal level Omicron doesn't pose a real risk," he said. "Even a small proportion of a relatively large number can be a relatively big number."
Many Covid-19 infections may look like a common cold or influenza. The best fashion to know is to go a test, said Dr. Sarah Ash Combs, attending physician at Children's National Hospital.
"Short of getting a test, I would say it'south really tricky to distinguish right now," Combs said. "We demand to simply treat common cold-ish symptoms in pretty much the same bucket" every bit Covid-19.
What symptoms to look for
Early signs of common cold, flu and Covid-19 tend to be similar, El-Sayed said.
Both Covid-19 and the flu often crusade symptoms such as fever, fatigue, body aches, sore throat, shortness of breath and airsickness or diarrhea, according to the Usa Centers for Disease Command and Prevention.
Covid-xix infection can be distinguished, however, by the headache and dry coughing that ofttimes go along with information technology. The loss of taste and smell that has been the biggest alert sign of a Covid-xix infection is still a possible symptom, though it is less prevalent at present than it has been with other variants, El-Sayed said.
"For people who are feeling serious chest pain, particularly with a dry coughing that has gotten worse, that'due south when yous really ought to seek medical attention," he warned.
The most important factor to consider is exposure.
"If you are starting to experience any of these symptoms, information technology's worth asking: Has everyone with whom I've come into contact been infected with Covid? Information technology's also worth isolating and taking a rapid examination," he advised.
Even if you're not feeling symptoms yet, it may be all-time to exercise circumspection if you have been around someone who tested positive for Covid-19.
"I practice retrieve it is worth keeping a high suspicion that information technology could be Covid because that we take the Omicron variant spreading like wildfire," El-Sayed added.
When to exam for Covid-19
It is often good to address your suspicions of Covid-nineteen by taking a test, although when you lot do it makes a deviation.
If yous are feeling symptoms, now is the fourth dimension to take a test, El-Sayed said.
For those who take been exposed merely aren't feeling symptoms, in that location is a possibility that the virus hasn't adult enough to prove up on a rapid test, he explained. In those cases, information technology is best to look five days afterwards exposure before testing and to remain on the spotter, according to the CDC.
"Just considering you become a negative test doesn't necessarily mean it's not Covid," El-Sayed said. "The best approach is to test so maybe exam once more in 12 to 24 hours, and if you go two negatives, you can be more sure that it's not."
Whether it is Covid-19 or the common common cold, it has e'er been a adept idea to isolate while you fight a viral illness, he said. It has go fifty-fifty more important with the hazard of spread increasing with Covid-19.
What to do if your child starts sniffling
Looking ahead to the return to school later on the winter break, the US is at a point where people demand to treat cold or influenza symptoms the same as Covid-nineteen, Combs said.
When a family comes into her emergency room with a child that has sniffles and a sore throat and asks what it is, she is honest: She can't know for sure without a test, said Combs.
Children are experiencing Omicron much in the same fashion adults are in that the symptoms are much more wide-ranging and oftentimes milder, like a cold, she said.
Getting a flu shot for your kid is important to reduce the chance of adding another virus to the mix, Combs said. Children nether 5-years-old are still waiting on Covid-19 vaccine approval from the US Nutrient and Drug Administration, but those older tin can get vaccinated to reduce the chance of spread and serious disease.
As they go back to a school environment, testing is going to be essential to protecting against outbreaks, Combs said.
"If you're looking to exist actually careful, if you're looking at a child going back to a school surroundings is to spread to other people, I would say actually the merely way to know is taking that test," Combs said.
The skilful news is we know how to manage infections when children return to school, Combs said. When it isn't clear if your child was exposed or if their test is still pending, protocols like masking, sanitizing, distancing and reducing indoor gatherings are still believed to be constructive in reducing spread, she added.
And know that advice may evolve as time goes on, El-Sayed cautioned.
"Information technology'south changing quickly. We're learning a lot more," he said. "Omicorn is a variant we've really only known for about a calendar month."
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the infirmary where Dr. Sarah Ash Combs works. It is Children's National Hospital.
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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/28/health/is-it-cold-flu-or-covid-wellness/index.html