Do You Have the Flu, RSV, COVID, or the Widespread Chilly?

Nov. 22, 2023 – Winter is sort of right here, and with it might come runny noses, coughing, and congestion. However how are you aware in case you have only a frequent chilly or one of many three respiratory viruses that make up the “tripledemic” – RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), COVID-19, and influenza? 

Based mostly on signs alone, it’s troublesome to inform which sickness you might need. However there are clues that may level you in the fitting route: how extreme your signs are, how lengthy it took for signs to set in, what viruses are circulating in your neighborhood, and extra. 

We requested specialists to interrupt it down for us. 

How Viruses Set Themselves Aside – or Don’t 

These days, COVID – particularly for individuals who have acquired the newest vaccine – can manifest very similar to a standard chilly, so it’s necessary to maintain at-home assessments readily available.

“Being vaccinated does preserve [these viruses] from placing the chest,” stated Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, a pulmonary and significant care physician at Johns Hopkins. “Vaccinated sufferers might get a gentle cough, however quite a lot of their signs keep extra as an higher respiratory challenge, like nasal congestion – like a nasty chilly.” 

RSV in wholesome people who find themselves not youngsters or over the age of 65 would possibly appear to be a chilly or a gentle case of COVID. However for youngsters and seniors, a telltale signal of a possible RSV an infection is when a affected person is wheezing or they’re having bronchial asthma flares, stated Peter Chin-Hong, MD, an infectious illness skilled on the College of California, San Francisco. 

What the Timing of Signs Can Inform Us 

Widespread chilly signs have a tendency to return on pretty shortly, defined Chin-Hong. When you get RSV, then again, it might take 4 to six days earlier than signs present. Flu viruses are a completely completely different story. 

“The particular attribute of flus is the abrupt onset of signs,” Chin-Hong stated. “You is likely to be minding your personal enterprise, feeling OK, after which the entire sudden you get in your automobile and you are feeling such as you’ve been hit by a dump truck.” 

COVID additionally has some distinctive symptomatic options. Chances are you’ll not have signs in any respect, otherwise you might need gentle, cold-like signs for per week earlier than the signs worsen and the an infection turns into extra severe. 

“COVID has this biphasic sample, whereas colds and RSV don’t – it’s when you’re type of doing OK, and then you definitely fall off a cliff,” stated Chin-Hong. “That’s why early remedy with Paxlovid or remdesivir is so necessary as a result of it may well forestall that second part from taking place.” 

Testing Is Your Greatest Wager

For Galiatsatos, getting examined for COVID ought to be your first intuition – and getting two detrimental assessments inside a 24-hour interval ought to encourage you to hunt out a flu take a look at at a neighborhood well being care facility for those who’re capable of. Staying on high of testing can get you entry to the fitting antivirals, like Tamiflu, which may shorten signs by a day or extra. And if you come down with the flu, these couple of days could make a world of distinction. 

Simply assuming you’ve got COVID and never testing may very well be a mistake, particularly if you find yourself having long-lasting respiratory signs of the virus. 

“One of many issues that broke my coronary heart was so many sufferers who’ve come into my clinic with signs of lengthy COVID, however they by no means acquired examined. I can’t take a look at their antibodies anymore as a result of these antibodies may very well be from an older an infection or vaccine,” stated Galiatsatos. “It’s exhausting to get insurance coverage firms to pay for lengthy COVID assessments if there wasn’t a constructive COVID take a look at to start with.”