Flu Season
As summer fades and we start to move indoors, cold and flu viruses begin to flourish. Learn how to protect yourself from the flu, starting with a flu shot. Know the difference between a cold, a flu, and COVID-19.
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Influenza, or the flu, is a respiratory illness caused by a virus. It causes muscle aches, headache, fever, sore throat and makes you feel tired. Most people recover on their own.
Flu season this year brings the risk of both the flu (influenza virus) and COVID-19 (coronavirus). Similar symptoms include fever and cough. One difference is that with COVID-19 some people lose their sense of taste and smell.
Flu season peaks between December and February. It’s important, especially this year during the COVID-19 pandemic, to get your flu shot and follow other ways to prevent the flu.
The flu is highly contagious and caused by influenza viruses. Kids—and adults—most often catch the flu in winter. In healthy kids, symptoms are mild. But very young children or kids with chronic conditions can have complications. The best way to protect your child is with a flu shot.
You’re tired, you have a headache, a sore throat, and you’re sneezing. Is it a cold? Or is it the flu? Learn how to differentiate between these illnesses.
An acute upper respiratory infection (URI) is any infection of the nose or throat, which are part of the body’s upper respiratory system. URIs cause the common cold and tend to be relatively mild infections.
Strep throat is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the throat and tonsils, and needs to be treated with antibiotics. Strep is common in children, causing pain and redness in the throat, and often a fever. But adults can get it too.
In asthma, the airways of your lungs overreact to various triggers, causing coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. The flu can act as one of those triggers—and that can make your asthma symptoms worse. Learn how to treat them both.
Gastroenteritis (the stomach flu) and influenza (the flu) have different causes, and mostly different symptoms. But both can usually be treated at home—and a lot of the same precautions can keep you from getting either “flu” in the first place.
Flu symptoms
How Does the Flu Become Pneumonia?
Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs due to an infection. Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses. Many symptoms overlap. If you get pneumonia from the flu, it can be serious, particularly if you are immunocompromised.
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Rotavirus
Rotavirus causes severe, watery diarrhea and vomiting, most commonly in infants and young children. It’s a gastrointestinal virus, and is highly contagious, though milder in older children and adults.
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7 Causes of a Productive Cough
When mucus irritates your airways or lungs, it makes you cough up phlegm. Most of the time, a virus or bacteria has caused the mucus production. Or a history of cigarette smoking. Sometimes it’s contagious.
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What Causes a Dry Cough & How to Find Relief
A persistent dry cough can be caused from a upper respiratory infection or bronchitis. Other common causes for a dry throat cough include asthma, smoking, or viral throat infection. Viral pneumonia and COPD are less common causes of dry cough.
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9 Causes for Your Cough
Your cough can be caused by viruses, bacterial infections, COVID-19, allergies, and a number of other conditions. Learn what your cough symptoms mean, how to get the right diagnosis, and what treatments actually help.
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Ear Infection
Ear infections are extremely common infections in kids although adults get them, too. They can be caused by a bacteria, virus, or fungus, and can be very painful, causing ear and head pain. Treatment options may or may not include taking antibiotics.
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