流感還是感冒？

Fall is upon us, and that means the kids are finally back in school and the hot, humid summer days are all but behind us (hopefully). But the cooler air also signals the start of the inevitable cold and flu seasons that run rampant through close-packed classrooms, and circulate back out to parents and coworkers. When the sneezes start, though, they can set off a moment of panic—is this just an average cold-weather cold, or the more serious flu?

秋天來了，這也意味著感冒和流感也快來了，一人患病，全家傳染什么的，不可避。但是，假如你得病了，那你得的到底是普通感冒還是流感呢?

One of the biggest differences between the two viral infections is how fast the sickness sets in, says Cynthia Benson, the assistant medical director of the emergency department at Overlook Medical Center in New Jersey. With a cold, someone might wake up with a bit of a sore throat and runny nose, and slowly start to feel worse over the course of a day or two. The flu, on the other hand, has a fast onset. “You’re fine when you go into work, and by lunch, you’re really sick,” Benson says. “You feel like you get hit with a ton of bricks.”

新澤西州 Overlook 醫(yī)療中心急診部助理醫(yī)療主任 Cynthia Benson 表示，兩種病毒感染之間最大的差異之一，就是患病的速度有多快。感冒后，有人可能會喉嚨痛和流鼻涕，并且在一兩天內慢慢開始感覺更糟。另一方面，流感起病很快。 “你上班時很好，到午餐時，你就真的生病了，你覺得你被白金之星揍了。”

Some of the symptoms do overlap—the sore throat, the stuffy nose—but a cold tends to be concentrated in the upper respiratory system, with sneezing and watery eyes. The flu is less likely to come along with a runny nose, but instead will cause muscle aches and chills. Depending on the particular strain of the flu circulating, it can also cause an upset stomach or diarrhea. The real hallmark of the flu, though, is a high fever, Benson says. A cold might cause a low grade, borderline fever, she says, but with the flu, body temperature spikes.

一些癥狀確實是兩種病都會有的 - 喉嚨痛，鼻塞 - 但感冒往往集中在上呼吸系統(tǒng)、打噴嚏和流淚。流感不太可能伴隨流鼻涕，反而會引起肌肉酸痛和打寒戰(zhàn)。根據(jù)流感的各類變異體，還可能導致胃部不適或腹瀉。Benson 說，流感的真正標志是高燒。感冒可能導致低度的惡性、邊緣性發(fā)熱，但是流感會讓體溫升得更高。

Can you diagnose yourself?

自我診斷靠譜嗎?

Adults usually know when they have the flu, as opposed to a run-of-the mill cold, Benson says. “People know themselves. They can differentiate between feeling just crappy and run down, and having the flu,” she says. Benson says there tends to be more incorrect self-diagnoses of the flu when it’s a particularly bad season: People have colds, but are more likely to be worried that they have the flu.

Benson說，成年人一般可以分得出來。 “人們都了解自己，可以區(qū)分感覺不爽和沮喪，也能分得清感冒和流感，但當高發(fā)季節(jié)時，往往會有更多不正確的自我診斷：人們可能其實是感冒，但更可能擔心自己是流感。”

For kids, though, it can be harder to tell what virus is causing their sniffles. Babies and toddlers can’t necessarily identify what they’re feeling. Kids tend to have more nausea when they’re sick, both from a cold or from the flu. “That’s why we tend to do more flu testing in those ages,” Benson says. The flu is particularly dangerous for young kids, who can become dehydrated quickly and suffer more complications, so it’s more important to know for sure if they have it. Keep an eye on their breathing patterns and activity levels if they start to seem ill, Benson says. “A two year old who is listless, and has decreased energy—that should be a big red flag the child is really sick.

然而對于孩子來說，可能更難分辨出是哪種病毒引起他們流鼻涕。嬰幼兒不一定能夠識別出他們的感受。孩子生病時往往會伴有更多的惡心癥狀，無論是感冒還是流感。“這就是我們傾向于在這些年齡段進行更多流感測試的原因，”Benson說。流感對年幼的孩子來說特別危險，他們可能會很快脫水并且會出現(xiàn)更多的并發(fā)癥，因此更確切地知道他們是否患有流感更為重要。如果他們開始出現(xiàn)病情，請留意他們的呼吸模式和活動水平。“一個兩歲的娃，無精打采，不太活動 - 這應該是很強的信號——孩子真的生病了。”

For healthy adults, the flu and colds can generally be treated the same way—with hydration, over-the-counter medications, and rest. Taking Tylenol (brand name for acetaminophen) or another non-prescription analgesic like Advil or Motrin (both ibuprofen) to bring down a fever can also help cut down on the misery of a flu. Keep an eye on the active ingredients in your medications of choice, though: many contain acetaminophen, which can be toxic to the liver at high doses. Doctors and pharmacists can help with cold medicine selection, and field questions or concerns.

對于健康的成年人，通?？梢酝ㄟ^飲水、非處方藥和休息來同樣地治療流感和感冒。服用泰諾(對乙酰氨基酚的藥品名)或其他非處方鎮(zhèn)痛藥如Advil或Motrin(均為布洛芬)可以減少發(fā)燒癥狀，也可以幫助減少流感的痛苦。但要注意選擇的藥物中的有效成分：許多都含有對乙酰氨基酚，高劑量時可能對肝臟有毒害。醫(yī)生和藥劑師可以幫助選擇感冒藥，去咨詢一下比較好。

Benson also says that flu-sufferers should stay home, at least for the first few days. “[The flu is] not the kind of thing you should push through,” Benson says. “You expose other people, and it makes it harder to recover.”

流感患者應該留在家里，至少在發(fā)病的最初幾天。“[流感]不是你應該傳播出去的東西，你感染了其他人，會讓恢復變得更加困難。”

Even if someone just has a cold, if they can, they should stay home from work for the first day or so, she says. “If you take off the first day of [a] cold, you will probably get better a little faster,” she says. The first few days of any illness are also when you’re most contagious, so staying in bed can help protect those around you.

即使有人感冒了，如果可以的話，他們也應該在第一天就下班回家。任何疾病的最初幾天是最具傳染性的，所以待在床上可以幫助保護你周圍的人。

The best treatment, though, is to prevent sickness from striking in the first place. “Hand washing is key,” Benson says. “As kids go back to school, I’ve seen more and more parents in with upper respiratory infections. Hand washing is super important if someone in your household comes down with a sickness. I tell them to wash hand towels, change out toothbrushes.” Stay away from people who are already sick, and don’t share cups and utensils.

但是，最好的治療方法是預防。“洗手是關鍵，隨著孩子們回到學校，越來越多的父母患了上呼吸道感染(感冒)。如果您家中有人患病，洗手是非常重要的。讓他們洗手巾、更換牙刷。遠離已經(jīng)生病的人，不要共享杯子和餐具。”

And most importantly, Benson says, get a flu shot. “Vaccination, vaccinate, vaccinate—I can’t say it enough.”

最重要的。打流感疫苗!!!