Thursday, October 8

Know the Difference between

A Cold & Swine Flu Symptoms

Symptom

Cold

Swine Flu

Fever

Fever is rare with a cold.

Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.

Coughing

A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold.

A nonproductive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough).

Aches

Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold.

Severe aches and pains are common with the flu.

Stuffy Nose

Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week.

Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the flu.

Chills

Chills are uncommon with a cold.

60% of people who have the flu experience chills.

Tiredness

Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold.

Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.

Sneezing

Sneezing is commonly present with a cold.

Sneezing is not common with the flu.

Sudden Symptoms

Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days.

The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.

Headache

A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold.

A headache is very common with the flu, present in 80% of flu cases.

Sore Throat

Sore throat is commonly present with a cold.

Sore throat is not commonly present with the flu.

ChestDiscomfort

Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold.

Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

14 comments:

Gilly said...

That is the most useful thing of all the stuff that's come out of the swine flue epidemic. I will copy it for future reference!

Thanks for popping to my blog - I was cute when small, but alost all cuteness when I grew big and gawky!!

Arkansas Patti said...

Me too making a copy. That makes it so clear and simple.
Good to know if I am not sick 6 hours after shopping, I probably dodged the bullet. Thanks so much.

Pat said...

Helpful information. Thank you:)

robin andrea said...

Excellent. Concise and informative.

Shiny Rod said...

Good stuff to know about the difference in the symptoms.

tiff said...

Excellent guide!

Darlene said...

Thanks for posting a helpful chart. Most of us couldn't tell the difference between a bad cold and a light case of flu.

On the other hand, if the flu is severe (and it usually is) there is no doubt that it's not a cold.

One missing symptom on the chart is nausea. I always barf if I have the flu.

LL Cool Joe said...

Now my body aches, I have a cough, I'm sneezing and have a high temperature.

Whatever it is I have, can I stay in bed for the day and be pampered? ;)

Maria said...

This is by far the best explanation of the difference between flu and cold that I have ever seen.

Thank you for posting it. Vaccines are not yet available here, but I will get mine when they are. Bob and I got the regular flu shot a few weeks ago.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

This is Very Very helpful, Judy..! Tanks so much for this...Though with my on-going symptoms it is sometimes hard to decipher what is coming in from the outside....But, I am going to be EXTRA Careful now!

rosemary said...

I printed it out....thank you Judy.

Evil Twin's Wife said...

Thank you for the info. I'm pretty sure that my son and I just have some sort of stomach bug - no fevers here, but I'm keeping him home tomorrow regardless.

Chancy said...

Great and useful post Kenju thanks

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this information. It will be well used.