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 have you learnt in case you have only a widespread 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 proper path: 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 consultants to interrupt it down for us. 

How Viruses Set Themselves Aside – or Don’t 

These days, COVID – particularly for individuals who have obtained the latest vaccine – can manifest very like a typical chilly, so it’s necessary to maintain at-home checks readily available.

“Being vaccinated does maintain [these viruses] from placing the chest,” stated Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, a pulmonary and demanding care physician at Johns Hopkins. “Vaccinated sufferers could get a gentle cough, however a variety of their signs keep extra as an higher respiratory concern, like nasal congestion – like a foul chilly.” 

RSV in wholesome people who find themselves not kids or over the age of 65 would possibly appear like 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. If you happen to get RSV, however, it might take 4 to six days earlier than signs present. Flu viruses are a very totally different story. 

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

COVID additionally has some distinctive symptomatic options. You could 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 find yourself type of doing OK, and then you definately fall off a cliff,” stated Chin-Hong. “That’s why early therapy with Paxlovid or remdesivir is so necessary as a result of it may possibly forestall that second part from occurring.” 

Testing Is Your Finest Wager

For Galiatsatos, getting examined for COVID ought to be your first intuition – and getting two detrimental checks inside a 24-hour interval ought to encourage you to hunt out a flu take a look at at an area well being care facility in case you’re in a position to. Staying on prime of testing can get you entry to the proper antivirals, like Tamiflu, which might shorten signs by a day or extra. And while 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 could possibly 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 could possibly be from an older an infection or vaccine,” stated Galiatsatos. “It’s onerous to get insurance coverage firms to pay for lengthy COVID checks if there wasn’t a constructive COVID take a look at to start with.”