Feeling under the weather? You're not alone

IN THE NEWS: UCI Health Dr. Carl Schultz talks with KCBS-TV about the current influenza season and the differences between the flu and symptoms of a cold or respiratory infections.

Schultz, medical director of the emergency room at UC Irvine Medical Center and director of research for the UC Irvine Center for Disaster Medical Sciences, says that many people confuse the conditions:

Doctors say most of these patients will recover just fine and that they aren’t experiencing the flu.

“It is normal this time of year. We see a large amount of other kinds of upper respiratory infections: runny nose, sore throat, cough,” said Dr. Carl Schultz, an attending physician at University of California, Irvine Medical Center. “Most of those people are not really ill. They generally don’t have fevers and there’s no risk to their health. They’re going to do fine, regardless.”

Schultz stresses that having a flu feels much worse than having a cold, which is much less debilitating. Those with a cold will likely only experience a runny nose, sore throat, a cough and some general body aches. Those with a cold will either have no fever or a low fever around 99.5 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

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