Oct
24
H1N1 Update
October 24, 2009 | Tagged health, news | 6 Comments
The other day I got an email from a friend about the H1N1 flu. I generally do not over react about health issues but for some reason I didn’t delete the email. Everyday I would see it in my inbox and think why are you keeping this. Now I know why I kept it…so I could share it. Today President Obama Declared H1N1 Outbreak a National Emergency.
If you are not feeling well and you are not sure if it is a cold or the flu use this handy summary of symptoms to determine what your next step should be.
|
Symptom |
Cold |
H1N1 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 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. |
Comments
6 Comments so far
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This information about the differences between the regular flu and the H1N1 flu is very helpful. When everyone started mentioning the H1N1 Flu, I started wondering what the differences between the regular flu and the H1N1 flu were. Thank you for publishing this, it is very helpful. I can refer to it any time if I become sick over the winter months. Thanks again, and please check out my blog at which will be posted on November 8th, 2009!
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You wrote a wonderful article. It is very important to know the symptoms of the flu if you do catch it, but what can I do to protect myself from getting the flu? It might be helpful if you could add that into your article. If you have any time please visit my classes blog at, http://ccassinelli.edublogs.org.
Thank you
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Your article was great information! I learned a lot about the H1N1 Flu Virus from reading your article. Just a couple weeks ago, we were studying about viruses and how they worked. I was quite fascinated by the subject. Having had the flu recently, myself, I wanted to know which age group got the swine flu the most. Your article has cleared many questions and I hope that you post more things like these. We also have a site with posts about how to make the world a better place to live. Our site is: http://ccassinelli.edublogs.org/. Please visit our site and post your comments there!
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Hey, I like your blog about how you told what different effects there may be to different sickness’s.
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Thank you for posting this. This is very important information to know, as many people at my school are becomming sick. My science class has studied about the H1N1 virus, however we did not go into this much detail and I am happy to have read this to learn more. Now that this virus is not such a huge detail anymore, should I still be tested if I get these symptoms or should I simply treat it like a normal flu?
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can swine flu still kill people?
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