(NEXSTAR) – Three respiratory diseases — COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza — continue to infect hundreds of thousands of Americans every day.
All three viruses cause illness with overlapping symptoms. Created by the Children’s National Hospital of Washington, DC, the chart compares the most common differences at a glance.
Cough and fever are common to all three types, but there are other differences between the viruses. According to hospital symptom charts, sneezing is common with RSV, occasional with COVID-19, and rare with the flu. Meanwhile, headaches and body aches are rare with RSV, occasional with COVID-19, and common with the flu. target.
Another thing to watch out for is “symptom onset,” says Children’s National. Both COVID-19 and RSV start slowly and then escalate, whereas the flu usually hits with a ferocity.
For RSV, symptoms often go away in about a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms last about 1-2 weeks with the flu and may last longer with COVID-19.
The severity of symptoms in all three cases varies from person to person.
Another important difference is that there are vaccines for influenza and COVID-19, but not for RSV.
Checking your symptoms is a good place to start, but doctors recommend getting tested to inform next steps.
Dr. Andrew Pekos, a virologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said: “For both influenza and COVID, there are antiviral drugs that are effective if taken early after the onset of symptoms. “So it’s good to know that, especially if you’re in a high-risk group…these are important tools that we really have to keep using.”
