Cough & Cold

While both are caused by viruses and there are many symptoms that are similar, flu symptoms have a sudden onset and are more severe. Symptoms that do not usually show up with great severity with a cold, but can occur with a flu are: moderate to severe headaches, body aches, a high fever that lasts for up to four days, or extreme fatigue. With a cold, on the other hand, you’ll likely suffer from less severe symptoms like a runny nose, sneezing, stuffy nose, nasal congestion, sore throat and dry cough.

No. You can only get a cold or flu if you are exposed to a virus by someone who is infected. This may happen if the infected person coughs or sneezes on you, if you shake hands with the person, or if you touch a contaminated surface and then touch your eyes, nose or mouth.

A cough is caused by foreign substances that can irritate the respiratory tract and lungs. If the throat or lung passages are irritated, they narrow,alerting your brain to tighten the chest muscles and release large amounts of air from the lungs in the form of a cough. Since a cold or flu produces many irritating symptoms, cough are likely to exist with either.

Antibiotics are not used for colds because they only kill bacteria, and colds are caused by viruses.