Although a cold and a flu, or influenza, affect our respiratory system, they are different from one another. The biggest difference is that most colds are usually a lot milder than flu, although some flu viruses have been known to cause mild illnesses.
They both appear at the start of cold weather, when the temperature may drastically change. If you have a cold, you may be singled out since it is not contagious. Having flu is contagious and you are more likely to be spreading it, or may have received it from someone that you are usually around.
The flu affects your entire body, whereas the cold centers on your nose. Colds may start to out to be an irritated nose or a sore throat which is commonly followed by sneezing and runny nose. Congestion appears within a day as the virus develops in your body. The flu comes without any warning and goes straight to a fever, a fever which causes your entire body to ache all over as if you are restless and exhausted.
The sneezing, having a runny nose, or even a sore throat may not appear within the first few days, but later on as the virus develops. A fever in flu may go over 101°F but in a cold it usually stays under that. Having muscle aches and headaches are common, but not severe in colds. The symptoms of colds are more focused on your throat and your nose, compared to the flu which affects your entire body.
Stomachs upsets such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea are common in children and some adults when they have flu. Cold do not have such extreme affects on a person’s stomach.
Energy wise, colds do not lower a person’s energy level or even affect their regular activities from being completed, whereas flu may make a person exhausted. The length of each is different as well, where a cold may last a week or even less with a week of coughing following after. The flu can take nearly two weeks of just the illness with several weeks afterwards recovering from the coughing and fatigue.
