Summer Flu 2023: Symptoms, Course, and Duration of the Disease – Everything You Need to Know

2023-08-01 13:43:42

Runny nose, cough and pain in the throat and head: millions of people suffer from summer flu. Everything regarding the symptoms, course and duration of the disease.

Hamm – sneezing, coughing, rattling, listlessness – nobody likes to be sick. Especially not when the weather is good and you would much rather be doing 1000 more fun things than lying in bed with a heavy head. But that’s exactly what happens to millions of Germans year following year during the nice months of the year: they get summer flu. Even if the name does not suggest it: the summer flu has nothing to do with a real flu.

Summer flu 2023: symptoms, course and duration of the disease

A summer flu is not a classic flu, but “only” a summer cold. It can be caused by many different viruses (“flu-like infection”), while only the influenza virus is responsible for a real flu.

The symptoms of summer flu are similar to those of a common cold. Typical symptoms include:

cough runny nose headache sore throat hoarseness

Unlike a cold in winter, a summer flu makes you feel more ill. Affected people sometimes suffer from a slight fever, in rare cases even stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting are possible. In children, conjunctivitis is also often involved.

Summer flu or real flu? Those are the differences

The big difference between summer flu and “real” flu is not so much the symptoms as the severity. Anyone who has ever had a bad case of flu knows that nothing works anymore. The symptoms come on suddenly and severely, the fever is high, the whole body is on strike and just wants to go to bed.

On the other hand, a rather insidious onset with a comparatively mild course is characteristic of a summer cold. Summer flu often begins with milder symptoms such as sneezing. Gradually, the other typical symptoms of the disease are added. Usually only the upper respiratory tract is affected. Summer flu is not behind every cold. This might also be due to an allergy to pollen, which varies in intensity depending on the month in Germany. And even if many no longer think regarding it: There is still the possibility that Corona is behind an illness.

Summer flu: duration, course and incubation period

There are differences not only in the beginning of the diseases, but also in their duration and progression. The summer flu should be over following a week or at least should have weakened significantly. In the case of a real flu, it can take much longer.

Recovery from summer flu cannot be rushed. True to the motto “One week with a doctor, seven days without a doctor”, nose drops, tea and cold medicine can only alleviate the symptoms.

The incubation period – i.e. the period between infection and the onset of the first symptoms – is three to six days. During this time, those affected are contagious. Summer flu is transmitted by droplet infection when an infected person coughs or sneezes. However, the viruses can also be transmitted through contact with infected surfaces or objects.

Why is there summer flu?

Flu and cold in the dingy cold winter? Sure, that makes sense. But why is there such a thing as summer flu; is it warm? That’s why. The summer flu is triggered by so-called enteroviruses, which prefer high temperatures.

And in the summer they often encounter human immune systems that have been weakened by hours of sunbathing or draughts, for example from air conditioning or driving a convertible. Typical risk factors include dry mucous membranes because they are more easily infected by viruses. Even a chilled body – for example due to cold feet or wet bathing suits – poses a risk of infection.

Another virus is causing a stir in the summer of 2023: the Alongshan virus. It is transmitted by ticks and has now also been detected in Germany.

List of rubrics: © Susann Prautsch/dpa/Illustration

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