New Delhi: How can you tell if you have a cold, flu, COVID-19, or something else? Experts and scientists say that getting a test is the best way to find out. Recently, the number of co-infection cases in the country has gone up, and many people have reported having the same COVID symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that there may be more cases of people getting more than one disease at the same time.
Cold, flu, and COVID-19 viruses are all spread in the same way: through droplets from the nose and mouth of people who have them. And all of them can spread before a person knows they have them. The time when a person with either illness starts to feel sick varies. Some people who have the coronavirus don’t have any signs or symptoms, but they can still spread it.
Kristen Coleman, a research assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, says that the flu and COVID-19 both cause cough, fever, tiredness, and muscle aches. Some signs of COVID-19 are losing the ability to taste or smell.
Common colds, on the other hand, have milder symptoms like a stuffy nose and a sore throat. The flu is more likely to cause fevers.
COINFECTION IS DANGEROUS
Even though some online stories are wrong, the viruses did not combine to make a new disease. But it is possible to have both the flu and COVID-19, which some people call “flurone.” Coleman says that any kind of co-infection can be dangerous or make the symptoms worse. “We can expect to see more of these types of viral coinfections in the coming weeks or months if the number of flu cases keeps going up.”
All three types of viruses can cause many of the same symptoms, so testing is still the best way to find out which one you might have. There aren’t as many home tests for the flu as there are for COVID-19, but Coleman says that some pharmacies offer tests for both viruses at the same time. This can help doctors figure out what kind of treatment to give.
COVID SYMPTOMS
- Fever
- Cough
- Throat pain
- Headache
- pains
- efforts
- Fatigue
- gastrointestinal problem
- Loss of sense of smell and taste.
- Difficulty breathing
- Chest pain
FLU SYMPTOMS
- Fever
- Cough
- Throat pain
- runny or stuffy nose
- Muscle or body aches
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- vomiting
- Diarrhea
