If everyone you know is dropping like flies this chilly winter, you’re not the only one. It’s flu season, but we’re also seeing a rise in common colds and COVID cases. With RATs not always picking up new strains of COVID, plus PCR testing being virtually impossible to find in some places, it’s kinda hard to know exactly what illness you’ve caught.
Fear not though my dear friends, the lovely experts over at the ABC have broken down exactly which symptoms go with which illness. Though COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have many in common, there are some telling diversions that might help you figure out just which disease is plaguing you.
First, you may be wondering: what is RSV? It’s basically a virus that causes respiratory infections, like a cold for example, and generally it’s pretty mild — unless it’s caught by kids, elderly people or those who are immunocompromised, in which case it can be lead to more serious illnesses like bronchitis or pneumonia.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s dive into the symptoms of each illness, as outlined per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 symptoms
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Stuffy/runny nose and sneezing
- Less common: fever, body aches, loss of taste and smell, shortness of breath, vomiting
Flu symptoms
- Fever
- Cough
- Fatigue
- Body aches/pains
- Headache
- Less common: sore throat, loss of taste and smell, stuffy/runny nose (note: in kids, the symptoms differ slightly, so they might get diarrhoea or vomiting, but this isn’t likely for adults)
RSV Symptoms
- Cough
- Stuffy/runny nose
- Less common: Fever, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, sneezing
While this list is by no means exhaustive (it’s just the most common symptoms), and many symptoms overlap, it can still act as a guide for determining what illness you have if you can figure out what you don’t have.
For example, if you’ve lost your sense of taste and smell, you’re more likely to have caught COVID or the flu since this isn’t a common symptom for RSV.
Alternatively, if you’re sneezing, it’s probably COVID or a cold, since you’re unlikely to be sneezing with the flu.
It goes without saying that the only way to know for sure what you’ve caught is to get tested — don’t just rely on your own intuition, especially if you’re planning to be around others who may get sick off you, since not everyone presents these illnesses the same way.
There are now RATS which test for both COVID and the flu, and PCR testing in some states will also check for RSV, so there are ways to figure it out that don’t rely on your own judgement.
But if you continue to test negative on a RAT yet are displaying symptoms for the sickness you’ve been testing for, and can’t access a doctor’s appointment or PCR test, then consult the list above.
And in the meantime, stay hydrated, have some rest, and avoid being out and about if you can help it.
