Why the Coronavirus is Worse than the Flu and When to Seek Medical Attention
With its symptoms of high fever, cough and body aches — and its potential to be severe — the coronavirus has drawn comparisons to the flu. However, make no mistake: The new coronavirus is no flu. Even though both are spread through respiratory droplets, the coronavirus is affecting people with far more severity and rapidity […]
Ask the Harvard Experts: Do I Need an Antiviral Drug to Treat Flu?
Q: If I get flu-like symptoms, how do I know if it’s really influenza or something else? If it really is the flu, I would prefer to take an antiviral medication right away. A: Your question is very timely because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently evaluating whether to make the antiviral […]
What is Keto Flu?
Harvard Health Blog Many people have decided to try the ketogenic diet for weight loss. The most recent evidence shows that reducing your carbohydrate intake to a minimum may help you shed a few pounds, at least in the first few weeks to months. However, we don’t really know whether, over the long term, achieving […]
Is ‘man flu’ a real condition?
Q: Do men really suffer more with the flu than women? A: I’d never heard of “man flu,” but according to a new study of the topic, the term is “so ubiquitous that it has been included in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries as “a cold or similar minor ailment as experienced by a man […]
Methods for taking a child’s temperature vary with age
Throughout the year, especially during flu season, the questions surrounding how to take a child’s temperature and how to treat a fever seem never ending. So let’s jump right in with a discussion on taking temperatures in children of all ages. There are many different thermometers out there, and many different methods for taking a […]
Flu vaccination: Win some, lose some
If you got a flu shot last year and it didn’t work, don’t reject vaccination. During last year’s battle of The People vs. Influenza, the virus gained the upper hand. Early in the 2014-15 flu season, a new strain of the virus emerged against which the existing vaccine offered virtually no protection. Hospitalizations for flu […]
