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SIGN AND SYMPTOMS OF SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA

Both Sars-Cov-2 and flu can have varying degrees of signs and symptoms, ranging from no
symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe symptoms this conclude fever or feeling feverish/chills
Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue (tiredness) Sore throat Runny or stuffy
nose Muscle pain or body aches Headache Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea,
though this is more common in children than adults.

SARS usually begins with flu-like signs and symptoms fever, chills, muscle aches, headache
and occasionally diarrhea. This includes Fever of 100.5 F (38 C) or higher Dry cough Shortness
of breath. Influenza is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system your nose, throat and
lungs. Influenza is commonly called the flu, but it's not the same as stomach "flu" viruses that
cause diarrhea and vomiting. A typical characteristic of the SARS-CoV-2 infected patient is
pneumonia, now termed as Coronavirus Disease 2019, demonstrated by computer tomographic
scan or chest X -ray (Zhong NS. et al, 2003). In the early stages, the patients showed the acute
respiratory infection symptoms, with some that quickly developed acute respiratory failure and
other serious complications. The first three patients reported by the China Novel Coronavirus
Investigating and Research Team all developed severe pneumonia and two of these three
patients with available clinical profiles showed a common feature of fever and cough (Zhu N. et
al., 2020). Overall, 14% of the patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity. The
first cases of coronavirus infection in the United States also showed basilar streaky opacities in
both lungs by chest radiography. However, the pneumonia for this patient was only detected on
the day 10 of his illness. The foremost common signs and indications of patients are fever and
cough (Chen N. et al., 2020). Fatigue was complained by 96% of patients in one study, but was
less outstanding in another report. A combinational analysis of the common recorded signs or
symptoms of the reported cases found that fever was observed in around 90% of the SARS-
CoV-2 infected patients.

At first, the flu may seem like a common cold with a runny nose, sneezing and sore throat. But
colds usually develop slowly, whereas the flu tends to come on suddenly. And although a cold
can be a bother, you usually feel much worse with the flu. Common signs and symptoms of the
flu include: Fever Aching muscles Chills and sweats Headache Dry, persistent cough Shortness
of breath Tiredness and weakness Runny or stuffy nose Sore throat Eye pain Vomiting and
diarrhea, but this is more common in children than adults. Influenza is an important cause of
worldwide morbidity in children, and children have been recognized as a high-risk group for
influenza both during seasonal outbreaks and the recent 2009 H1N1 pandemic (Campins M. et
al., 2006). Although most children with influenza are seen as outpatients, children are also
frequently hospitalized with influenza-associated conditions. The optimal use of influenza-
specific antivirals in children is seriously hampered by the difficulty in distinguishing influenza
from other respiratory viral infections on clinical grounds alone. Previous studies have
demonstrated that the accuracy of a clinical diagnosis of influenza is particularly low in the
youngest children, among whom only a minor proportion of influenza-like illnesses are actually
caused by influenza viruses (Weinberg GA. et al., 2006). Although some previous studies have
assessed the predictive value of signs and symptoms for influenza in selected groups of
children, few data are available on unselected outpatient children who form the majority of
pediatric patients seeking medical care during any influenza outbreak (Weinberg GA. et al.,
2006).
SIGN AND SYMPTOMS OF SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA

Influenza virus infection is a major public health problem, occurring, typically, in the Northern


Hemisphere, between the months of December and April. Vaccines, the most cost-effective
primary prevention for influenza, are effective and readily available but have their limitations
(Cleve CJ. et al., 1999). Two antiviral agents with similar activity, amantadine hydrochloride and
rimantadine hydrochloride, have been available many years for prophylaxis and treatment of
influenza.3,10-13 However, both of these agents are active only against influenza type A and
not influenza type B, and resistance of influenza A viruses to these drugs can be a
problem.14,15 Zanamivir and oseltamivir, new, recently approved antiviral agents, are inhibitors
of the influenza virus enzyme neuraminidase and are active against influenza type A and type
B. When administered early in the course of infection, both reduce the time to alleviation of
clinical symptoms in individuals infected with influenza. Knowledge of the most predictive
symptoms of influenza could be used by physicians to diagnose influenza more accurately and
to begin an appropriate course of treatment in time to be of most benefit to the patient.

Sources:
Heinonen, S., Peltola, V., Silvennoinen, H. et al. Signs and symptoms predicting influenza in
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Heikkinen T, Booy R, Campins M et al (2006) Should healthy children be vaccinated against
influenza? A consensus report of the Summits of Independent European Vaccination Experts.
Eur J Pediatr 165:223–228 https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/52/suppl_1/S13/498323?
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Ville Peltola, Tanja Reunanen, Thedi Ziegler, Heli Silvennoinen, Terho Heikkinen, Accuracy of
Clinical Diagnosis of Influenza in Outpatient Children, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 41,
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SIGN AND SYMPTOMS OF SARS-COV-2 AND INFLUENZA

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