• Question: Is COVID 19 the flu

    Asked by anon-269480 on 9 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Zahra Massoud

      Zahra Massoud answered on 9 Nov 2020:

      No. COVID-19 is a disease caused by a novel (brand new) coronavirus. A “coronavirus” is like a “species” or family of virus, a bit like a species of animal. There are different kinds of coronaviruses that cause different kinds of diseases. Other diseases caused by coronaviruses include SARS and MERS, which appeared in 2003 and 2012.

      The flu is NOT caused by a coronavirus. It’s caused by a different “species” of virus, called influenza viruses. There are also different kinds of flu viruses, that cause different types of flu.

      Even though they’re not the same, some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar. Both are respiratory diseases, meaning they infect your airways (including your nose and lungs). That means symptoms tend to be related to this part of the body, like coughing. Other symptoms come from the body trying to fight the viruses, like a fever or muscle aches.

      However some of the symptoms of COVID-19 aren’t the same as flu, like losing your sense of smell. If you get these symptoms, you should get tested for COVID-19 and self-isolate to avoid infecting other people.

    • Photo: Romain Laine

      Romain Laine answered on 10 Nov 2020:

      No, it is definitely not. These two dieases are caused by two very different viruses:
      – COVID-19 is cause by the virus SARS-CoV-2
      – Flu is caused by the influenza virus (inFLUenza –> flu, got it?)

      But both Covid and the flu may lead to similar symptoms, like cough, headaches, and that’s because they are both infecting similar parts of your body: your lungs and breathing tubes.

      The flu has been around for 100’s if not 1000’s of years and it comes in waves in the winter, as you probably know. We have vaccines for it but we ned to change it slightly every year because the virus changes a bit from one year to the next.

      Covid is the new disease that everyone talks about since January 2020 because it can kill people and we do not have an approved vaccine yet. That’s why everyone is a little concerned and should be wearing masks and keep social distancing (not getting too close to friends and stranger as this is how the virus spreads).

      I hope this helps!

    • Photo: Natsuko Imai

      Natsuko Imai answered on 11 Nov 2020:

      That’s a great question and something a lot of people wonder about.

      Short answer: No. Covid-19 is not the flu (or “influenza”).

      Long answer: No. Covid-19 is not the flu (or “influenza”). Some things are very different, but some things are simiar.

      The two diseases are both caused by “viruses” but two very different ones. Covid-19 is caused by a virus called “SARS-CoV-2” and flu by the “influenza” virus. Both viruses affect your “respiratory system” including your lungs so you might get a cough or other cold-like symptoms. Other symptoms are specific to each virus as Zahra has mentioned.

      Covid-19 is a completely new disease – an “emerging disease” which was first discovered in China early this year. We think that it “spilled over” from an animal, most likely from an animal called a pangolin (looks like a scaly anteater) into humans.

      Flu on the other hand has been around for a really long time. This means that some people are protected from infection because they’ve had it before, or because they’ve been vaccinated. But for Covid-19, no-one has any immunity which means it can infect very large numbers of people.

    • Photo: Emily Speakman

      Emily Speakman answered on 12 Nov 2020:

      Good question. Covid-19 is very similar to the flu. The flu is causes by a virus called Influenza, where as covid-19 is causes by a virus called coronavirus. So they are similar because they are both caused by a virus. They are also similar because they both mainly target our lungs. There are some main differences between covid-19 and the flu. One difference is that Covid-19 spreads more easily between people than the flue, that’s why its really important to wash your hands regularly and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Another main difference between flu and covid-19 is that when some people have covid19 they loose their sense of taste and smell.

      Another very important difference is that we have a flu vaccine but we do not have a covid-19 vaccine… yet! Scientists are working very hard to try and make a vaccine for covid-19.

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