The flu season is an annually recurring time in the year that’s characterized by increased influenza outbreaks. The season mostly happens during the cold half of the year. The flu season will take around 3 weeks to peak and another 3 weeks to fade off once it strikes a specific region. The fact that flu symptoms are similar to allergic reactions has led to the big question. Can allergies turn to seasonal flu?
The Difference Between Allergies and Seasonal Flu
Distinguishing between flu and allergies is never easy. Even though one is an illness caused by the flu virus and the other is an immune system response to allergens, the symptoms always overlap. To the untrained eye, an allergic reaction can easily turn into a flu.
How does this happen? Well. It only happens if you diagnosed your flu wrongly. An allergic reaction will always remain to be an allergic reaction. It cannot develop into seasonal flu since it doesn’t need the influenza virus to occur.
This means that regular allergic reactions without the presence of the influenza virus will never turn into seasonal flu. All you need is to know how to tell the difference between allergic reactions and flu.
How to Differentiate the Flu from Allergic Reactions
The flu always leads to a high and consistent fever. The common cold should cause a low grade fever. Allergies, on the other hand, might make you feel crappy but they should never cause a fever. A mild or sever headache and painful sinuses might be in order but you should never have a fever. Check your temperature for proper confirmation.
Flu ache always leads to body aches. The body aches will be pronounced and could heavily affect your energy levels and performance at work. A reaction to allergies will never result in body aches. The only place that will ache is your respiratory tract as it accommodates to the allergen caused inflammation.
Common reactions that most people observe before concluding that they have an allergy are a runny nose and a sore throat. These are the most notable symptoms for the flu and allergic reaction and is the reason why most people can easily confuse the two.
Monitor the Flu Season
A great way to identify what is ailing you is looking at the flu seasons. You can use the flu map to find out if your runny nose and sore throat is the flu. In addition to this, people who travel or are in constant contact with frequent travelers are more exposed and stand a greater chance at contracting the virus.
While allergies will occurs on whatever season or time depending on what you’re allergic to, the flu will never hit you unless you are exposed to the virus. This means that you are only at high risk during your regional flu season or when you travel into a flu infected zone.
The best way to stay safe is by taking your annual flu shot and practice proper hygiene to minimize on infections. The vaccine reduces the severity of an infection should you be exposed to the flu virus.
Next time you have a sore throat and an itchy nose, take some time to take the diagnosis further. If you are feeling feverish and have body aches, you should consider visiting a doctor immediately for a confirmation. It is also great to report any severe allergic reactions especially if your immune system reactions have a tendency of being too severe. This will keep both you, your family and colleagues over at the work place safer and prevent subsequent infections.