Influenza: recognizing and relieving symptoms

Do I have a flu or cold? Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish cold from flu symptoms. Here you can find out which symptoms you recognize a "real flu".

A "real flu", also called influenza or flu, is transmitted by influenza viruses, Speaking of a "flu" infection, this has little to do with the flu? it describes a simple cold. Also, a gastrointestinal flu is not a form of influenza, but describes a gastrointestinal infection caused by different pathogens.

Flu Symptoms: How do I recognize influenza?

The most common flu symptoms are:

  • Headache and body aches
  • chills
  • Fever (up to 40 degrees)
  • Fatigue / heavy exhaustion
  • Dry cough
  • Sore throat
  • In some cases runny nose

A flu usually starts with headache and body achesThen there are the symptoms from the list. Cold is less common with flu, but it can happen.



Mostly you are recovered from influenza after one weeksometimes it takes three weeks. The fever is usually subsided after a few days, while the feeling of fatigue can persist even beyond the disease period. Even more information is available here: flu duration.

How long do flu symptoms last?

A flu spreads quickly, it comes again and again to "flu waves". Influenza is spread by the droplet infection, that is, the flu viruses are transmitted, for example, sneezes a sick person and his counterpart inhales them.

In addition, flu viruses can survive for several hours outside the body when it is cold, even longer. So you can also settle on surfaces that are touched very often, such as door handles. Even so, influenza or flu can be transmitted.



The Incubation period of flu is usually a few hours to three days, This means that if you have come into contact with the viruses and, for example, get stuck in the ENT area of ​​your mucous membranes, it will take up to three days for you to feel the first symptoms. Such an incubation period is relatively short; In case of a cold, the symptoms are only insidious and until one has noticed that one has caught a cold, they usually go away again.

Influenza virus: What can I do? How can I prevent?

If you have a flu, you should first and foremost: you save, In addition, a few pain relieving medication like paracetamol help. In a healthy organism and a strong immune system no targeted treatment is necessary and the flu disappears after a week by itself.

Only if the fever persists for more than three days at a time and the phlegm on coughing is particularly high, you should consult a doctor. In some patients are antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir or zanamivir meaningful. They inhibit neuraminidase and stop the spread of influenza virus. Oseltamivir and Zanamivir should be taken as early as 48 hours after infection to stop the spread of viruses in the body. More about this: Flu treatment.



But there is also a risk group that should definitely visit a doctor:

  • People over 60 years of people with chronic lung diseases such as COPD or asthma
  • pregnant woman
  • Infants under two years
  • HIV patients
  • Immunodeficient people
  • diabetes patients
  • People whose immune system has been weakened by drug treatment, e.g. after chemotherapy

In this group, the risk of superinfection is particularly high. This means that some bacteria use the already weakened immune system to spread another disease. The result: to the flu comes a lung or ear infection, or other diseases. So a flu infection can even be life-threatening.

These high-risk patients should undergo a flu vaccine every year. Even in the case of a flu illness of the vaccinated, the symptoms appear in a weakened form and the disease phase is significantly shortened.

Influenza: summer flu and influenza

What makes the flu viruses dangerous is theirs Ability to change constantly, This is why cases of flu occur again and again and they can also occur in periods of illness atypical, such as the summer flu. The Influenzanet network has therefore set itself the task of collecting and evaluating seasonal influenza data in order to investigate the course of influenza.

Here are more tips to measure fever, reduce fever, chills and home remedies for sore throat.

Symptoms of H1N1 (Swine Flu) (March 2024).



Flu, cold, influenza