Atchoo! is it a Cold or the Flu?

Atchoo! is it a Cold or the Flu?

When your nose is blocked, your eyes are watery, your throat is sore, you are coughing and sneezing constantly, and you are shivering, then you most likely have influenza, or the flu. Or, is it just a common cold? The symptoms of both the cold and the flu are very similar, and very often the two illnesses are confused.

People get both illnesses in more or less the same way. A person sneezing or coughing transmits the infection through the air. Sometimes, people with the virus wipe their noses or eyes

with their fingers. Then they touch objects around them, such as a doorknob, a telephone, a keyboard, or any other everyday object. Other people come into contact with these items carrying the virus and pick up the virus that way.

Colds usually last for five to seven days and are caused by viruses. The body’s own defense mechanisms need to fight the viruses. Unfortunately, there are more than 80 different constantly mutating rhinoviruses. So, vaccination against colds is impossible. Medicines provide temporary relief from symptoms, but they cannot cure the cold. The flu has the same symptoms as the traditional cold. Additional symptoms are a high fever and severe muscle aches and pains. The effects of the flu can also be far more serious. It can cause pneumonia and kill its victims. In the past, the flu killed more people than any other viral disease. For example, 20 million people of all ages died in the 1919 flu epidemic. It actually affected younger people more than the older because their bodies didn’t have defenses against the virus.