With the arrival of the winter months, one of the typical conditions of this season returns, the seasonal flu. even with the COVID-19 in the usual life of Ceuta, it is appropriate to mention the differences and similarities between these diseases so that the people of Ceuta know how to differentiate their behavior.
In reference to the symptoms in both, Julián Domínguez, head of the Medicine area of the University Hospital de Ceuta, indicates that “they range from fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, feeling of difficulty breathing, fatigue, tiredness, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body or muscle aches, headache, vomiting, diarrhea ( more frequent in children with flu and at any age in Covid-19) or loss of taste and smell (more frequent in Covid-19)”.
As for its spread, “Covid-19 spreads more easily than the flu, as well as being able to cause a disease more severe in some people. Likewise, symptoms, if they exist, tend to appear earlier in people infected with the flu than with Covid-19, the latter being able to be contagious for a longer time, since this period can last up to 14 days, “he says the doctor.
Similarly, people with the flu virus are potentially contagious for about a day before they show symptoms while in Covid-19 it occurs 2 or 3 days before, “with a peak a day before they start,” underlines Julián Domínguez.
Covid-19 is more likely to have “supercontagious” patients.
Asymptomatics are not exempt from not being contagious, “although usually to a lesser degree”, for about eight days. Unlike the flu, older children and adults “appear to be most contagious for the first 3-4 days, yet infants and people with low immunity may be contagious for longer.”
The transmission, as everyone knows, takes place, in both cases, from person to close person or by contact between them. “It is more frequent by air but can also be by contact. And both are airborne, they contain viruses that are expelled when people cough or sneeze or talk, and those particles fall out of the mouth or nose and can be inhaled by a person.”
“It is also true that in some circumstances, especially in poorly ventilated places, small particles can be further away, with Covid-19 much more contagious than seasonal flu and more likely to have patients who are super-spreaders of the virus,” he says the head of the Medicine area of the University Hospital of Ceuta.
The severity of both diseases “is more likely to occur in older adults who have underlying medical conditions, immunosuppression, and in pregnant women.” The big difference that exists in this regard is that “Covid-19 is more lethal than the seasonal flu,” she points out.
There are more frequent symptoms in some diseases, even if they are similar
“The main difference between the complications that can appear in these diseases is that in influenza people usually recover on their own in a few days or weeks, while in Covid-19 blood clots occur,” he specifies.
Finally, in terms of treatment, “flu has a specific treatment with antivirals such as oseltamivir. For Covid-19 there are also specific treatments, even if not so developed ”, he indicates.
The common cold is a much less aggressive condition for the body than the flu or Covid-19, as symptoms such as fever, body aches, tiredness or headaches are usually infrequent.
On the other hand, in colds, a runny nose, sore throat or nasal obstruction are more frequent, although they can also appear in the flu.
That is why Julián Domínguez points out that “it is not possible to distinguish exactly between these three diseases, although there is more frequent symptomatology in some than in others”.
