Cold vs. Flu
Susan Daily, RN-BC, COHN, BS - Director of Health Services

Feed a fever and starve a cold. Is that the best way to treat a cold and the flu? How do you know if your student has a cold or the flu? Are you asking yourself how to help prevent your student from getting a cold or the flu?

Colds and the flu often have similar symptoms. Because flu and colds are both caused by a virus, it is important to know the difference in order to effectively treat the illness. There are more than 200 different viruses that cause the common cold and viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Symptoms	Cold	Flu
Fever	Rare	Characteristic, high (102-104 F); lasts 3-4 days
Headache	Rare	Prominent
General aches, pains	Slight	Usual; often severe
Fatigue, weakness	Quite Mild	Can last up to 2-3 weeks
Extreme exhaustion	Never	Early and prominent
Stuffy nose	Common	Sometimes
Sneezing	Usual	Sometimes
Sore throat	Common	Sometimes
Chest discomfort, cough	Mild to moderate; hacking cough	Common; can become severe

Prevention is the key. The virus can be transmitted by hand-to-mouth or hand-to-eye contact. Shaking and/or holding hands with an infected person can put the virus in contact with the eye or mouth of a non-infected person. Researchers have found that cold viruses can survive for several hours on hands, in cloth handkerchiefs and paper tissues, and on hard, non-porous surfaces such as kitchen counters, dishes, doorknobs, computer keyboards, and telephones. Educate your student on the following to help prevent colds and the flu.

Hand Washing – Wash hands often. Try to keep hands away from your nose and eyes. By doing so, you may be able to prevent a cold even if the virus is on your fingers.

Sharing Food and Drinks – Never share food or drinks. Sharing food or drinks gives the virus an easy way into the body to start the disease process.

Sleep – Sufficient sleep allows the body to rebuild cells. Sleep helps to keep the immune system working at its best.

Flu Shot – A yearly Flu Shot is recommended by the American College Health Association. The Flu Shot is a killed virus so the patient cannot get sick from the vaccine. Health Services offered Flu Shots to students in November.

Multi-Vitamins – A once-a-day multi-vitamin helps replenish many of the nutrients the body may not be getting. Even with proper eating habits a multi-vitamin is a must. No need to spend a lot of money. Health Services offers multi-vitamins to students at a reduced cost.

While preventing every cold or flu is not possible, you can help your student reduce his or her risk factors. By using some of the suggestions above, we hope to keep your student healthy and well. If they do get sick, remind them of Health Services. In Health Services, we offer nurse assessments, OTC (over the counter) medications, and doctor referrals to help keep the missed class days to a minimum. Our main goal is to keep the students from having any unnecessary down time due to illness in their busy lives.

Back to top