![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/conceptual-sickness-woman-feeling-admitted-867281799.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWE all know the symptoms of a cold – runny nose, congestion sneezing and a cough. <\/p>\n
But how do you know it's just a run-of-the-mill illness and not something more serious?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On average, children have\u00a0four to six colds\u00a0per year, while in adults the average is\u00a0two to three.<\/p>\n
\u201cCold\u00a0symptoms tend to be mild and come on gradually," Boots superintendent\u00a0pharmacist\u00a0Claire Nevinson said.<\/p>\n
It tends to affect the upper respiratory tract, including your throat and nose. <\/p>\n
People usually start to feel better within a week or two, the NHS says.<\/p>\n
If symptoms last over three weeks, you may have something more worrisome,\u00a0like flu.<\/p>\n Flu symptoms typically hit your whole body all of a sudden. <\/p>\n "They'll probably be more severe and last longer than a cold," Claire added. <\/p>\n With the flu, you're more likely to suffer from a sudden fever, muscle aches and pains, sweating, feeling exhausted and a dry and chesty cough. <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Flu can also affect your digestive system and can make you feel sick, be sick, lose your appetite or have diarrhoea, the NHS says. <\/p>\n \u201cIn most flu cases, there should be no need to visit your GP," the pharmacist explained. <\/p>\n But children and adults at high risk may develop complications that may include pneumonia, which can be deadly. <\/p>\n Covid symptoms have recently changed; the viral disease now closely resembles a cold more than the flu, experts have said. <\/p>\n There has also been a surge in cases with experts warning the current strain is particularly 'deviant'.<\/p>\n The illness' past telltale signs, like the\u00a0loss of sense of taste or smell, a hacking\u00a0cough, and shortness of breath have become less common.<\/p>\n Since Omicron became dominant in 2021, medics have found the bug affects the upper respiratory tract, including the nose and voice box.<\/p>\n Dr Erick Eiting from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York, US, previously said: "It\u2019s a lot of congestion, sometimes sneezing, usually a\u00a0mild sore throat."<\/p>\n The sore throat emerges first, followed by a stuffy nose, he explained.<\/p>\n Past telltale signs have become less common, like the loss of sense of taste or smell, a hacking cough, and shortness of breath.<\/p>\n Along with congestion, doctors said, some patients experience a headache, fatigue, muscle aches, fever, chills or post-nasal drip that may lead to a cough.<\/p>\n Most people feel better within a few days or weeks of their first Covid-19 symptoms and fully recover within 12 weeks, the NHS says. <\/p>\n However, if you're worried about your or a child's Covid-19 symptoms or are unsure what to do, call NHS 111 of your local GP.<\/p>\n Sinusitis, or a sinus infection, is a swelling of the sinuses usually caused by a cold of the flu. <\/p>\n Your sinuses are the spaces in your forehead, cheeks and nose that are usually filled with air. <\/p>\n According to the NHS, it causes facial pain,\u00a0which is different from both a cold and the flu, but other symptoms can overlap, like a runny nose or a fever.<\/p>\n It's common and usually clears up on its own within two to three weeks. <\/p>\n However, recurrent or persistent sinusitis, which lasts after three months, may require surgery to remove blocked tissue. <\/p>\n Bronchitis, like many viral bugs, begins wth a cough, general tiredness and a low-grade fever. <\/p>\n A cold can potentially turn into bronchitis, sometimes known as a chest cold.<\/p>\n According to the NHS, it happens when a respiratory illness in the upper respiratory tract, like a cold, travels lower respiratory infection, specifically the\u00a0bronchial tubes – the airways that carry air to your lungs. <\/p>\n A cold is felt in the nose, whereas bronchitis is in the lungs. <\/p>\n Other bronchitis symptoms not\u00a0seen in the common cold include chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing and chest congestion.<\/p>\n Bronchitis usually clears up without treatment in around three weeks. See a GP if your symptoms last longer than this.<\/p>\n Call 999 if you or someone else is struggling to breathe, choking, gasping and unable to speak, confused or there is skin discoloration (blue).<\/p>\n Pneumonia has been rising globally in recent months. <\/p>\n It's sometimes dubbed 'white lung pneumonia' because of the white areas on the lungs that appear during chest X-ray scans. <\/p>\n Pneumonia is another infection in your lungs, but instead of the bronchial tubes, you get it in tiny air sacs called alveoli.<\/p>\n Bronchitis can potentially turn into pneumonia. <\/p>\n It's generally more serious than bronchitis, as it usually looks more like a body-wide infection with a\u00a0fever,\u00a0chills and sickness, the NHS says. <\/p>\n Like bronchitis, it also causes chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing and congestion.<\/p>\n Most people get better in two to four weeks. <\/p>\n Babies, older people, and people with heart or lung conditions are at risk of getting seriously ill and may need treatment in hospital.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/newspress-collage-2aeu06q40-1700745983509.jpg\")
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