The Symptoms of Flu

The symptoms of influenza are:

Most significant

·   Fever

·   Cough and/or shortness of breath

·   Sudden onset of symptoms

Other

•         Aching muscles

•         Sore throat

•         Runny nose, sneezing

•         Loss of appetite

•         Headache

•         Malaise (lethargy, listlessness)

•         Chills

Children aged 6 months or less can also have tummy aches, diarrhoea and vomiting. In very young children, tiredness, poor feeding and difficulty in breathing can also be early signs of flu.

The symptoms of pandemic flu would probably be similar to those of seasonal flu, but they could be more severe and cause more serious complications. A key message during a pandemic should however be that, in case of doubt, one should assume that an infection is pandemic flu, and act accordingly. It is better that someone stays at home for a couple of days with what might turn out to be a normal cold than that they go into work or school with the early symptoms of pandemic flu and pass the flu virus on to other people.

The incubation period (the time from being exposed to the virus to showing symptoms of infection) is from one to four days: for most people, it will be 2-3 days.

In terms of the infectious period (how long you are infectious to others), people are most infectious soon after they develop symptoms, and remain infectious to some extent until the symptoms disappear. In general, adults can continue to excrete viruses for up to five days, and children for up to seven days, but occasionally longer. Over this period, the amount of virus, and therefore the infection risk to others, will decline as symptoms improve, but does not disappear until the symptoms themselves also disappear.