Flu or coronavirus? These viral diseases can easily be confused with each other. However, apart from the similarities, there are also some differences. And it's worth knowing them, especially since the flu season is fast approaching, and the coronavirus may then strike again. We will not have a vaccine for the coronavirus until autumn, but for the flu - it is new every year.

Similarities between the flu and Covid-19

Influenza is usually less serious and easier to avoid because there are effective drugs and vaccines. However, as WHO points out, it is difficult to distinguish both diseases on the basis of symptoms.

Both viruses - influenza and SARS-CoV-2 - attack the respiratory tract. The infection is transmitted by droplets, but it is also possible to be infected by contact with contaminated objects or through the hands, and the source of the infection is a sick or infected person. In both cases, washing your hands, wearing a face mask and avoiding touching your face helps to avoid contamination.

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The initial symptoms of infection are also similar: fever, cough, sore throat, diarrhea. Fatigue Headaches and muscle aches occur in both diseases, but are more common with the flu. People with flu rarely have a runny nose and sore throat, and the fever is often above 39 degrees C. Dyspnoea and shallow breathing are characteristic of COVID-19. A runny nose, stuffy nose and sneezing usually accompany the common cold, a viral disease that is limited to the upper respiratory tract, especially the nose.

A cold can be caused by about 200 viruses, the most common of which are rhinoviruses (according to various sources, up to 80%) and coronaviruses (several%). Before SARS appeared in 2002, the coronaviruses associated only with the common cold were not considered a serious threat, and no vaccines were sought.

In both flu and COVID-19, infection can be asymptomatic. However, this does not mean that it is completely harmless - you can infect others.

Read: Flu viruses - types, symptoms of infection, treatment

Differences between the flu and Covid-19

What clearly distinguishes Covid-19 from the seasonal flu is a greater risk of serious complications and death - the mortality rate is much higher than that of the flu, but the exact figures areseem to depend on many factors - both genetic and individual characteristics and the region from which the data come from.

A person infected with COVID-19 infects an average of 2-3 people (it is still difficult to say exactly how many), compared to an average of 1.3 people in the case of flu. The incubation period (from infection to the first symptoms) for influenza is 1 to 4 days, for coronavirus - 2 to 14, with the onset of flu being much more sudden.

The average duration of COVID-19 treatment (with mild symptoms) is about 2 weeks, in the case of severely ill people - with respiratory failure, multi-organ dysfunction, septic shock - over 3 weeks. It is often necessary to use a respirator, there are even transplants damaged by lung disease.

A symptom that has been talked about a lot recently is the loss of smell and taste, occurring in several dozen percent of infected. As smell and taste are also lost in those who are asymptomatic undergoing COVID-19, this symptom may help to catch these cases.

Read: Asymptomatic Coronavirus. What may be worrying?

Loss of smell can also be caused by infection with "common" coronaviruses that cause colds.

Unlike the flu virus, the SRS-CoV-2 coronavirus is not limited to attacking the lungs; it can enter the bloodstream and cause problems throughout the body, such as a "cytokine storm", clotting disorders and stroke. There are also myocarditis, rhyme disorders and heart attacks.

Blood or protein appear in the urine of many hospitalized for COVID-19, indicating kidney damage, and Chinese doctors have detected the virus in the kidneys of people who have died of the disease. Since there are up to 100 times more ACE2 receptors in the gastrointestinal tract to which the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds, complications such as diarrhea and vomiting can occur. Liver damage has also been reported. Less prominent and rarer symptoms include rash or conjunctivitis.

Flu mortality - Poland

In Poland, in the epidemic season of 2022/2020 there were over 3.8 million cases of influenza or suspected cases of influenza. According to the data of the National Institute of Public He alth - National Institute of Hygiene, 65 people have died of influenza in Poland since September 2022, and 62 people since the beginning of 2022.

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Flu and Covid-19 in children

Children often become infected with group viruses which they spread to other people, including older people. Covid-19 affects children and adolescents very rarely, however, there have been reports of pediatric multi-systemicinflammatory syndrome (PIMS) associated with this disease.

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COVID 19