Our Definitive Guide to Cold and Flu (2024)

FAQs

How can you tell the difference between cold flu and Covid? ›

Fever: Coronavirus and flu both cause fever, but it's rare for the common cold. COVID-19 patients usually have a fever of 100 F or higher, while flu sufferers often experience fever of 100F to 102F that lasts three to four days. Headache: COVID-19 patients sometimes have headaches.

The stages of a cold include the incubation period, appearance of symptoms, remission, and recovery.

You may have a runny nose, cough, congestion, and sore throat. But you won't usually have the aches and fever that are common with COVID-19 and flu. Often, you'll feel better in a couple of days.

Flu symptoms usually start to show one to four days after exposure. Most people are ill for a few days. Typical symptoms include fever, chills, aches, cough and sore throat. Intestinal symptoms, such as vomiting or diarrhea, are possible but less common.

When do omicron subvariant symptoms start? The time it takes for an infected person to develop symptoms after an exposure is shorter for the omicron variant than for previous variants — from a full week down to as little as three days or less, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms peak: Cold symptoms peak at 1 to 3 days. The main symptoms include sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, discomfort, sneezing, fever (more common in children), headaches, clear, watery discharge from your nose (mucus), and body aches.

Within 7–10 days , people will usually start to recover from a cold. Symptoms begin to ease up, and people will start feeling better. People may also find that they have more energy and are more able to carry out tasks as usual.

Vitamin C does not prevent colds and only slightly reduces their length and severity. A 2013 review of scientific literature found that taking vitamin C regularly did not reduce the likelihood of getting a cold but was linked to small improvements in cold symptoms.

Nose blowing can relieve some sinus pressure and provide comfort, but it cannot clear the bacterial or viral infection of the sinuses. The infections require medical attention.

In adults and older children, they usually last about 7 to 10 days, but can last longer. A cough in particular can last for two or three weeks. Colds tend to last longer in younger children who are under five, typically lasting around 10 to 14 days.

What is mild COVID like? ›

Mild COVID-19 means you have symptoms — such as cough, sore throat, and fatigue — but no shortness of breath. Most of the time, people can treat mild COVID-19 at home. There are treatments specific to COVID-19 for certain people, so contact your healthcare provider to discuss your options.

A common symptom of COVID-19 is a dry cough, which is also known as an unproductive cough (a cough that doesn't produce any phlegm or mucus). Most people with dry cough experience it as a tickle in their throat or as irritation in their lungs.

Influenza A is the most common type of flu. It accounts for approximately 75% of total flu virus infections, and it's the most likely cause of the “seasonal flu” that hits the U.S. every winter.

Advise all employees to stay home if they are sick until at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicines, or after symptoms have improved (at least 4-5 days after flu symptoms started).

Most symptoms go away in 4 to 7 days. The cough and tired feeling may last for weeks. Sometimes, the fever comes back.

All of the variants, including omicron BA.5, cause similar COVID-19 symptoms: runny nose. cough. sore throat.

People are thought to be most contagious early in the course of their illness. With Omicron, most transmission appears to occur during the one to two days before onset of symptoms, and in the two to three days afterwards. People with no symptoms can also spread the coronavirus to others.

The study found that sneezing is the fourth most common reported symptom associated with omicron.

Days 3 to 5: Cough and More Nasal Congestion

You may notice that mucus from your runny nose has become thicker, with a yellow or green tinge. This usually is due to a spike in the number of white blood cells your immune system has dispatched to overcome the virus, according to the Mayo Clinic.

When you have a cold, your symptoms are usually worse in the first two to three days. That's when you are most likely to spread your cold to others. In general, you are contagious a few days before your symptoms start until all your symptoms are gone. Most people are contagious about two weeks.

Is it good to sneeze when you have a cold? ›

If the built-up mucus is due to a virus or bacterial infection and is pushed into these tubes, the result may be a middle ear infection or holes in the eardrum. The simple way to avoid these complications is to let out your sneezes and allow your body to rid itself of irritants.

If symptoms get worse, rather than better, after 3-7 days, you may have acquired a bacterial infection. These symptoms can also be caused by a cold virus other than a rhinovirus.

Kale, broccoli, cranberries, green tea, red onions, blueberries: What do these have in common? All have an antioxidant called quercetin that may help you fight the common cold.

Keeping yourself hydrated will help you feel better. Good hydration helps clear congestion. When you're sick, make sure you get eight cups of water a day. A better hydrated body helps the immune system stop the cold symptoms.

You may have heard that it's beneficial to “sweat out a cold.” While exposure to heated air or exercise may help temporarily relieve symptoms, there's little evidence to suggest that they can help treat a cold.

There is no guarantee that zinc will help you feel better faster. In some studies, zinc did nothing to shorten how long people with colds felt bad. In other studies, zinc may have shortened symptoms by a few days. But the side effects from taking zinc can be uncomfortable or serious in some cases.

Vitamin C. Vitamin C is marketed as the go-to supplement for preventing and treating colds. Mechanistically, it makes sense: vitamin C helps immune cells form and function, and it supports the physical barriers (such as the epithelial cells of your skin) that protect you from pathogens.

Taking vitamin D is not a guaranteed guard against the cold or flu. But vitamin D supplements are inexpensive and might give you a boost. Vitamin D: New studies suggest that people with low blood levels of vitamin D are more likely to get sick. Researchers think that vitamin D may play a role in boosting immunity.

A hot shower won't make your cold or flu disappear, but it can help you treat the uncomfortable symptoms. Benefits of hot showers include: Loosening chest congestion by breathing in steam. Clearing stuffy nasal passages with moisture.

When you do cough up phlegm (another word for mucus) from your chest, Dr. Boucher says it really doesn't matter if you spit it out or swallow it.

Does sneezing mean you are getting better? ›

While that loud "Achoo!" may be embarrassing, it's actually a sign that your body is in healthy fighting mode.

It can also tell you a lot about what is going on inside your body. The way your snot looks can indicate things such as allergies, a cold, the flu, a sinus infection, or sinusitis. So, it is important to open up that tissue and take a peek if you aren't feeling great.

Researchers have discovered that some of the prominent features of a COVID-19 headache include: Having a pulsing, pressing, or stabbing sensation. Occurring bilaterally (across the whole head) Presenting with severe pressure that won't respond to typical pain relievers, like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

Sometimes the symptoms can even go away or come back again. Post-COVID conditions may not affect everyone the same way. People with post-COVID conditions may experience health problems from different types and combinations of symptoms happening over different lengths of time.

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.

Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection

A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold. That's why COVID-19 testing and seeing a doctor is so important.

A dry cough is one of the most common coronavirus symptoms, but some people may have a cough with phlegm (thick mucus).

Similarly, a Cochrane review of 64 studies found that lateral flow tests correctly identify 72 per cent of infected people who have symptoms, and 78 per cent within the first week of becoming ill.

Colds usually last 3 to 7 days, but sometimes they hang on as long as 2 weeks. If you're under the weather for longer than that, one of these things could be to blame.

While the duration of your symptoms may vary, many people wonder how to cure a cold in 24 hours or even overnight. The best way to tame a cold fast is to stay home, rest, drink plenty of fluids, gargle with salt water, take an OTC medication, and humidify the air.

Is fresh air good for a runny nose? ›

Here's What You Should Do:

In fact, getting fresh air is good for you when you're feeling under the weather. When you're cooped up inside, you're sharing the same air with those around you. So every time someone coughs or sneezes inside, those infected droplets are still in the air.

Is Sneezing Really a Symptom of COVID? Although initially not thought to be a prominent COVID-19 symptom, it is often found in people with the omicron variant. The ZOE COVID Study found that sneezing is an increasingly common symptom of COVID-19.

Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection

A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold. That's why COVID-19 testing and seeing a doctor is so important.

“Fever, cough and headache look to be the most common symptoms from the current data. However, especially if you are vaccinated and boosted, and your immune system has been primed to fight COVID-19, some people may experience minimal to no symptoms when infected with the new Omicron variant,” says Dr.

Did you know the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which is currently the dominant strain in the United States and our region, can present symptoms very similar to seasonal allergies? Both share symptoms of sneezing, headache, fatigue and coughing, but how do you know if it's routine allergies or something more serious?

Mucus and Runny Nose

They are also symptoms of Omicron. These symptoms last approximately two to five days after detection of the virus.

Many people who are infected have more mild symptoms like a scratchy throat, stuffy or runny nose, occasional mild cough, fatigue, and no fever. Some people have no symptoms at all, but they can still spread the disease.” Fever seems to be one of the more common early markers of COVID-19, Kline noted.

Fever or chills. Cough. Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

Delta variant symptoms are the same

Typically, vaccinated people are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms if they contract the delta variant. Their symptoms are more like those of a common cold, such as cough, fever or headache, with the addition of significant loss of smell.