It seems easy to say: it’s a flu. But not always those symptoms that everyone knows are easily traceable to an infection by a flu virus.
In fact, there are several diseases that, at least at an early stage, can be mistaken for influenza, especially if they occur during the epidemic season, between December and March.
Children find it easier to get confused
There are infectious diseases that affect children and that are often mistaken for influenza. For example, the sixth disease: it affects the first two years of life, causes two-three days of fever without other particular symptoms, apart from a possible decrease in vivacity.
When the body temperature returns to normal, usually suddenly, the typical spots appear on the skin that allow recognition.
Another infection that can be misleading is measles, today fortunately less and less frequent thanks to vaccination.
It has a much longer incubation time than the flu (10-14 days compared to 2-5 days of the latter), and the first signs (severe cold, discomfort in the light, fever) would point in a very different direction if it were not then the rash, unmistakable, to reveal the disease.
The same applies to chickenpox and rubella, which often, in the first hours, before the typical rash, mimic a flu syndrome.
Even in adults you can make mistakes
In addition to the family of parainfluenza viruses, which induce a picture very similar to that of influenza, there are also numerous microorganisms that can hinder or confuse the diagnosis.
It is up to the doctor to formulate it, but it should be remembered that an accurate reporting of the symptoms and one’s own “history” of the last hours (for example contact with other affected individuals) is a particularly useful support, especially in cases where it may be objectively difficult to understand whether or not it is flu only on the basis of symptoms.
It is more difficult to differentiate a cytomegalovirus infection from the flu. It is a widespread and dangerous herpetic virus essentially in non-immune pregnant women and immunosuppressed individuals.
In most cases the infection runs unnoticed but, when accompanied by symptoms, causes fatigue, malaise, fever, enlargement of the lymph glands and sometimes sore throat.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
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