China’s COVID situation and BF.7 variant raises concern for other respiratory infections as well
China is seeing more than 9,000 COVID cases on an average per day. It has been estimated based on models that the country, which is already experiencing the worst COVID situation ever, is likely to experience a peak in the cases in January.
The BF.7 variant is driving COVID cases in China currently and in view of the situation in China other countries are on alert.
Studies have a lot to say about the BF.7 variant which is driving a sense of fear among people.
However, amid COVID scare people need to know that in India due to the winter season there is a higher risk of common cold, flu and RSV too.
Common cold is a upper respiratory tract infection mostly; know the symptoms
Common cold is mostly prevalent in India during the winter season. It is a viral infection of the nose and throat.
Most of the symptoms seen during the common cold are similar to those seen in COVID.
The classic symptoms of common cold are cough, runny nose, stuffy nose, sneezing, and sore throat.
People might also experience difficulty in breathing, fever, headache, muscle pain, body ache, vomiting, and diarrhea. During the common cold, wheezing is seen in kids.
Kids manifest the highest rates of flu infection; here are the symptoms
Influenza or flu is caused by influenza virus types A and B. These viruses cause acute respiratory illnesses.
Flu has higher severity among kids aged 5-9 years of age. "Children are efficient transmitters of influenza viruses and those 5-9 years of age typically manifest the highest rates of infection and illness. However, severe morbidity and mortality are more common among elderly people and in specific high-risk groups," says the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The symptoms of flu are cough, fatigue, fever, headache, muscle pain, and body aches.
People with flu also experience runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Occasionally symptoms like difficulty in breathing and wheezing is also seen in people who are down with flu.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) disease is leading to an increased hospitalization among older people; these are the symptoms of RSV
The RSV disease is a threat to young infants and among immunocompromised and vulnerable individuals.
In children including the infants, the first infection may cause severe bronchiolitis which can be fatal sometimes. In older children and adults without comorbidities, repeated upper respiratory tract infections are common and range from subclinical infection to symptomatic upper respiratory tract disease.
The common symptoms of RSV infection are cough, runny or stuffy nose, and wheezing.
People down with RSV also experience sneezing, fever, and headache.
Loss of taste and smell in viral infections
People who get viral infections often lose their sense of taste and smell. Even during the initial phase of COVID, people experienced loss of taste and smell for a longer duration.
Experts say that a stuffy nose reduces the ability of the human body to taste or smell something. This is temporary in nature and the person can experience taste and smell after some time.
These are the symptoms seen across all the viral infections
While each of the infections have their own trademark symptoms there are certain symptoms which are commonly seen across all the infections.
Signs like fatigue, fever, headache, muscle pain and body aches, runny nose, stuffy nose and sore throat are commonly seen in all these viral infections.
Hence the only way to distinguish each one from the rest is through testing.
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