Hoosiers deal with common cold during the start of flu season

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s that time of the year when many people are starting to feel sick. Different illnesses are starting to spread around the classroom and the workplace.

Flu season is just starting, but that is not what the main issue is right now. Instead, doctors are seeing both rhinovirus, also known as the common cold, and enterovirus. 

“[Rhinovirus] is just another fancy name for your common cold so the typical sniffles, congestion, runny noses, etc.,” said Dr. Tommy Geile, a primary care family medicine physician with Riverview Health. “It typically runs its course, no medications or anything to really help that other than managing the symptoms.”

The good news is these viruses are typically not that serious and doctors say they usually go away on their own. Meanwhile, flu cases will begin to climb in the next couple of months.

Doctors said we are coming off one of the worst flu seasons in more than a decade. That’s why taking extra precautions during this time of the year is really important.

Recommended tips include:

• Wash your hands often
• Clean and disinfect commonly used surfaces like tables, counters, doorknobs, etc.
• Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Stay home from work or school when you are feeling ill

It’s also important to know how to distinguish between having just a cold or the flu. 

“The common cold is going to be typically upper respiratory symptoms like cough, congestion, runny nose which all of that you can have with the flu but the thing you typically have with the flu that you don’t have with a common cold is you are going to have that abrupt onset and especially like a high fever and then typically body aches,” Geile said. “You typically look a little bit more sick with the flu than the common cold.”

This is also the time of year when many people are getting their flu vaccine. Doctors said this is especially important for kids, the elderly and anyone with pre-existing health conditions. 

Flu cases are expected to peak in January similar to last year. Doctors said the nation is coming off one of the worst flu seasons in more than a decade, so the hope is to keep cases down this year.

To learn more about prevention and other healthy tips, click here.