Now that the COVID-19 epidemic is still spreading, many people are panicking that they have caught the virus when symptoms such as "fever, cough, and fatigue" appear. There are many similar symptoms between NCC pneumonia, flu, and the common cold, but there are also subtle differences.

PART 01

What is a cold?

Generally, it is a disease with upper respiratory tract symptoms in the nasopharynx caused by cold, exertion, and other factors.

Symptoms: mainly nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, no obvious fever, physical strength, appetite is not significantly affected, no obvious headache, joint pain, general discomfort, etc. People with colds generally have very heavy upper respiratory symptoms, but the systemic performance is very light and generally not dangerous.

PART 02

What is influenza?

Influenza is a respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus, which can cause not only upper respiratory problems but also lower respiratory infections, also known as pneumonia. Influenza is often prevalent in winter and spring and is divided into influenza A and influenza B.

Symptoms: Influenza patients have a rapid onset, severe symptoms, many systemic symptoms, will have a fever that may rise to more than 39 degrees Celsius within a day or two, cough, headache, body aches and other symptoms are obvious. For the elderly, children, physically obese people, pregnant women, and people with underlying diseases, influenza can cause severe pneumonia, which can lead to pneumonia.

PART 03

The symptoms of COVID-19 are very similar to colds and flu, how can I tell the difference?

Statistics from various countries show that the symptoms of COVID-19 are very similar to those of influenza and even the common cold, so there is no way to tell if you are infected with COVID-19 based on symptoms alone. However, COVID-19 is different from influenza in two ways: it has a longer incubation period, and it has lower respiratory symptoms.

1. Long incubation period

According to epidemiological studies, the incubation period of influenza is about 1 to 4 days and the duration of illness is about 7 days. The illness can become severe very quickly, as it may be fine yesterday and then suddenly have a high fever, body aches, pains, or any other discomfort that prevents you from going out.

The incubation period for neonic pneumonia is relatively long, ranging from 1 to 14 days, and the illness may last for weeks or months, or more.

2. Having lower respiratory tract symptoms

However, for those who have no symptoms, how can you tell if you have pneumonia? There are some small details.

Some people who are asymptomatic may also have pneumonia visible on X-ray or computed tomography, so asymptomatic actually means that they do not have systemic or upper respiratory symptoms, but may have some lower respiratory symptoms.

Based on current epidemiological information, the majority of patients recover, but there are also deaths, most of which have an underlying medical history, such as diabetes, chronic liver disease, renal insufficiency, cardiovascular disease, etc.

PART 04

Triple diagnosis with one test

Seasonal influenza and COVID-19 share the same mode of transmission and similar clinical features, and the two have a high degree of overlap in terms of high-risk groups, high disease burden groups, and the medical resources required. A rebound of seasonal influenza with a high epidemic trend will not only cause huge health losses but will also interfere with the prevention and control of the COVID-19 and cause a run on healthcare resources.

Hecin focuses on respiratory pathogen diagnosis, and the 2019-nCoV/IAV/IBV Antigen Test Kit (colloidal gold method) developed by Hecin has long been approved by the EU CE, which can obtain rapid results in 15-20 minutes without instruments, enabling rapid differential diagnosis of influenza and common respiratory viruses, and can effectively help It enables the rapid differential diagnosis of influenza and common respiratory viruses, which can effectively contribute to the accurate diagnosis of common respiratory viruses.

This test kit can be used to detect Influenza A virus (HIN1 (2009), seasonal H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H7N9); Influenza B virus (Victoria, Yamataga); 2019-nCoV specifically. It enables rapid and comprehensive typing of 2019-nCoV/IAV/IBV, effectively contributing to the surveillance and prevention, and control of virus infections.