Nov. 22, 2023 – Winter is nearly right here, and with it might come runny noses, coughing, and congestion. However how have you learnt you probably 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 tough to inform which sickness you might need. However there are clues that may level you in the precise 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 specialists to interrupt it down for us.
How Viruses Set Themselves Aside – or Don’t
These days, COVID – particularly for individuals who have obtained the newest vaccine – can manifest very similar to a typical chilly, so it’s essential to maintain at-home checks available.
“Being vaccinated does preserve [these viruses] from hanging the chest,” mentioned Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, a pulmonary and significant care physician at Johns Hopkins. “Vaccinated sufferers might get a light cough, however quite a lot of their signs keep extra as an higher respiratory problem, like nasal congestion – like a nasty chilly.”
One of many distinctive signs of COVID, significantly within the earlier variations of the virus, was the lack of style and scent. Whereas this nonetheless occurs in some circumstances, this symptom isn’t as frequent anymore, mentioned Galiatsatos. Most of the time, sufferers who’ve been vaccinated will report lack of scent or style resulting from higher respiratory congestion, whereas previously “it was extra of a neurological invasion of the virus,” he mentioned.
That’s modified as a result of so many people now have the antibodies that shield us from the extra extreme penalties of COVID, from both having recovered from a earlier an infection, getting immunized, or a mixture of the 2.
Not like RSV, chilly, and flu, COVID can also convey on some gastrointestinal signs like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Whereas GI points are a extra unusual symptom, it may be an indication that it’s best to get examined for COVID.
RSV in wholesome people who find themselves not kids or over the age of 65 would possibly appear to be a chilly or a light case of COVID. However for kids 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, mentioned Peter Chin-Hong, MD, an infectious illness professional on the College of California, San Francisco.
What the Timing of Signs Can Inform Us
Widespread chilly signs have a tendency to come back on pretty rapidly, defined Chin-Hong. Should you get RSV, alternatively, 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 mentioned. “You could be minding your individual enterprise, feeling OK, after which all the 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. You might 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 critical.
“COVID has this biphasic sample, whereas colds and RSV don’t – it’s if you end up sort of doing OK, and then you definately fall off a cliff,” mentioned Chin-Hong. “That’s why early remedy with Paxlovid or remdesivir is so essential as a result of it might stop that second section from occurring.”
Testing Is Your Finest Wager
For Galiatsatos, getting examined for COVID needs to be your first intuition – and getting two detrimental checks inside a 24-hour interval ought to encourage you to hunt out a flu check at an area well being care facility when you’re capable of. Staying on prime of testing can get you entry to the precise antivirals, like Tamiflu, which might 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 might 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 bought examined. I can’t check their antibodies anymore as a result of these antibodies might be from an older an infection or vaccine,” mentioned Galiatsatos. “It’s arduous to get insurance coverage firms to pay for lengthy COVID checks if there wasn’t a constructive COVID check to start with.”
