Guest guest Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Know the Difference between Cold and H1N1 Flu Symptoms Fever Fever is rare with a cold. While fever is usually present with the seasonal flu in up to 80% of cases, it is not present with swine flu in 30% to 50% of cases. Coughing A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold. A non-productive (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. Chest Discomfort Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold. Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu. The way to stop the spread of the flu is to spread the awareness. === Information from Nancy Fay, an experienced ER respiratory critical-care therapist, about swine flu and fever: There are very important differences between the seasonal flu, which varies slightly but appears every winter, and this novel H1N1 influenza. Perhaps the most important symptomatic difference is the incidence of fever. Colds rarely include a fever, while seasonal flu very often includes a fever; and so fever-reducing medicines are typically given to seasonal flu patients. But this new virus will often not have fever symptoms. Here are two articles which note that 30% to50% of H1N1 cases do not have fever: _http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11docs.html_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11docs.html) _http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09240902/H1N1_CNN_Cooper.html_ (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09240902/H1N1_CNN_Cooper.html) Why is this important? If people are being screened for fever, either with thermometers or heat- scanning devices at airports, some one-third to half of those who do in fact have H1N1 will not be flagged because they're fever-free. These people are still contaigious to others, however; and --this is very important--those who don't have fever still need treatment. The medical definition used in the US has fever on its list of symptoms of swine flu. So, if a person seeks treatment at a clinic, hospital or doctor's office, but does not have a fever, s/he might not be treated unless an astute clinician recognizes his/her other symptoms. Thus treatment could very often be delayed when time is of the essence. To be effective, anti-viral drugs must be administered ASAP. Delaying the decision to give these medications--as well as other medications, IV fluids, oxygen and more aggressive treatment --has proven to be life-threatening. The rapid tests for H1N1 also have proven to be highly unreliable in the field, producing false negative results up to 50% of the time. The more complicated Polymerase Chain Reaction (or PCR) test is quite accurate, but it takes up to a week, and is usually done once a patient has been hospitalized. These two factors--the unreliability of the rapid test and the unreliability of fever as a diagnostic indicator--have led to many people being denied necessary prompt treatment. I hope this information is helpful. Nancy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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