The comparison between influenza and coronavirus is essential. Symptoms, contagion … update on similarities and differences.
The question is on everyone’s lips: how to distinguish the coronavirus from a simple flu? If you stick to the symptoms, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two. While the coronavirus spread from China around the world in December 2019, the flu settles in France every year. As of February 26, and “since the start of the epidemic on November 4, 2019, 654 severe cases of influenza have been reported. 55 people died, including 9 children under 15, 24 between 15 and 64, and 22 people over 65, “announced Public Health France. In France, 39 people are currently infected with the coronavirus, two have died.
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Same symptoms
Fever, cough, difficulty breathing, symptoms are identical, as evidenced by the World Health Organization: for flu, “the symptoms are a sudden onset fever, cough (usually dry), headache , muscle and joint pain, throat irritation and rhinorrhea. The cough can be severe and last for 2 weeks or more, ”says the WHO website. For Covid-19, “the symptoms depend on the virus, but the most common include respiratory problems, fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. In more severe cases, the infection can lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. “
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While the incubation period is 3 to 6 days for influenza, it can be up to 14 days for coronavirus. Hence the need for people returning from a risk region to minimize contact with the outside world for two weeks.
The most contagious coronavirus
Postillions, coughs, sneezes, contact, the two viruses are transmitted in the same way. Wash your hands regularly, avoid contact with fragile people …: the precautions to be taken are therefore identical. “Studies show that a person who has the coronavirus contaminates between 2 and 3, or even more than 3. A person with flu will contaminate on average 1.3 other people,” explains Parisian doctor Sybille Bernard-Stoecklin, expert at Health. Public France. A difference which is explained by the fact that “unlike the flu, the French population has never been confronted with the new coronavirus: we are talking about a” naive “population which makes them more likely to be contaminated”, details Pauline Jaffré, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
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The fatality rate (the proportion of fatal cases linked to an illness) of the coronavirus is slightly higher than that of the flu. “The first studies estimated that the fatality rate of the coronavirus, called Covid-19 19, was between 2 and 3%. However, these figures have since been revised downwards. Epidemiological models estimate that its case fatality rate is around 1% or even less, ”explains Dr. Sybille Bernard-Stoecklin. For seasonal flu, this rate would be less than 0.5%.
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Coronavirus: why kids seem spared
The profile of infected people differs from virus to virus. While the flu affects all age groups and can be very dangerous in babies and the elderly, coronavirus seems to spare young people under the age of 20. A phenomenon which has, to date, no biological explanation.
If in doubt, only a screening test can ensure that a person is infected with the coronavirus or not.
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