For many, the off-season is the most dangerous time of the year. It was during this period that viruses attack most people. As a result, SARS and influenza, which knock out the usual pace of life and cause significant discomfort. To begin effective therapy of the disease, it is necessary to correctly determine its etiology. Therefore, it is so important to know how to distinguish ARVI from influenza by clinical manifestations.
What is ARVI?
If the doctor has diagnosed SARS, you should be aware that this ailment is a generalized concept for all respiratory diseases that have a viral etiology. These diseases include the flu.
The diseases of this group are characterized by the rapid onset of symptoms, such as respiratory symptoms, lacrimation, general weakness, sweating and fever. A viral infection is transmitted by airborne droplets, while it spreads rapidly and affects 75-80% of people who have contacted the patient. Such sad statistics is explained by the fact that the human body is not able to develop immunity to viruses, since the latter are constantly mutating and mutating.
What you need to know about flu
Many do not consider this ailment serious and make a huge mistake, endangering their body. After all, the flu is one of the most insidious respiratory viral diseases. It is spreading every year on our planet in the form of global pandemics and epidemics that claim 300 to 500 thousand lives. Therefore, it is so important to know how to distinguish ARVI from influenza in the initial stages of the development of pathology in order to begin effective therapy.
To date, scientists have identified more than 2,000 subspecies of the virus. The most dangerous of them are Spanish (A / H1N1), swine (H1N1) and bird flu. Like all acute respiratory viral infections, the disease is transmitted by airborne droplets and is characterized by high "infectivity." The latter fact is explained by the fact that the incubation period of influenza and ARVI lasts from two to four days, and during this time the patient manages to infect many other people. 
The disease begins with acute manifestations of intoxication, such as headaches, vomiting, chills, dizziness, and sometimes sleep disturbance and even hallucinations. Treatment should include bed rest, symptomatic therapy, and antiviral medication. It is also worth noting that the patient must be isolated from healthy family members for the duration of treatment.
Diagnosis of ailments
To determine the acute respiratory viral infection, the therapist only needs to examine the patient, but determining the etiology of the disease in this way will not work, since the symptoms of influenza and SARS are very similar. For an accurate diagnosis of the disease, the doctor must send the patient to the laboratory for a series of tests. The only way to determine the presence of the virus in human blood.
In the laboratory, to determine the ailment, crops of infected blood are most often used in specific culture media. For this, a series of studies based on serological reactions are carried out, with the help of which the concentration of antibodies in the patient's blood to the virus is determined.
But when you consider the fact that laboratory tests are quite complex and expensive, not all of them pass. And pediatricians categorically diagnose the flu only on the basis of information received about the onset of the epidemic. In exceptional cases, only the first patients undergo research, and the rest is put “automatically” by everyone else before the end of the epidemic situation. For this reason, the treatment of the disease is not always effective and can lead to a host of undesirable consequences. Therefore, those people who care about their health need to know how to distinguish ARVI from influenza on their own.
The initial stage of the disease
Despite the fact that these two ailments are very similar in symptoms, there are a number of differences by which a person can independently determine what exactly he is sick with. So, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the rate of development of the disease. As a rule, the initial stage of acute respiratory viral infections is delayed by 1-2 days, while the symptoms are sluggish, but the person feels significant discomfort (lethargy, nasal congestion, sore throat, sometimes fever) and partially lose working capacity. A memo on acute respiratory viral infections and influenza, which, as a rule, always, and especially during epidemics, is present at one of the sanitary bulletins in the clinic, contains a lot of useful information about the development of the disease and its prevention.
As for influenza, a person who is still healthy in the morning after dinner is already completely losing strength and feeling unwell due to the high temperature. This disease is characterized by a rapid acute onset.
The nature of the development of pathology, like other signs of influenza and SARS, allows the patient to independently determine which of these ailments the body attacks.
Body temperature
As already mentioned, in many respects the symptoms of these diseases are similar, and one of the signs is an increase in body temperature. But there is one caveat. So, the flu is characterized by a rapid (in 1-2 hours) temperature jump up to 39-40 ° C. Moreover, almost all antipyretic drugs are not very effective. And even if it was possible to lower the temperature, in 1-2 hours it will start to rise again. In such cases, doctors prescribe not only flu and ARVI medicines, but also several antipyretic drugs that need to be alternated and taken every 2.5-3 hours.
As for ARVI, as a rule, the temperature does not exceed 37.8-38.5 ° C. It easily decreases after taking drugs such as Paracetamol or Ibufen. If the patient's condition is stable, no deterioration is observed, then you can do without antipyretic drugs to enable the immune system to cope with the disease on its own. But if a child is sick, self-medication is not worth it. After all, the crumb body can not cope with the disease, which will adversely affect its health. Therefore, when the first symptoms appear, you need to go to the pediatrician's office, who will assess the condition of the small patient and prescribe treatment. 
General condition of the patient
It’s no secret that flu, colds, SARS are diseases that cause a decrease in working capacity and cause significant discomfort. But even by these signs, you can independently understand which disease violated everyday plans.
So, with the flu, patients complain of severe muscle and headaches (especially in the temples), as well as body aches, chills and increased sweating. In addition, in some cases, there is pain with eye movement and photosensitivity.
If we talk about the general condition of the patient with SARS, then weakness and weakness is present throughout the disease. But pain in the head and muscles is very weak. 
Nasal congestion and runny nose
Influenza viruses and SARS are provocateurs of inflammatory processes in the respiratory system. In this case, the patient begins to cough, the body temperature rises, and nasal congestion and runny nose appear. However, with influenza, inflammation and swelling of the nasal mucosa occurs much less frequently than with acute respiratory viral infections. And after 2-3 days the runny nose completely disappears.
In acute respiratory viral infections, the nose blocks in the first two days, then, in addition to swelling of the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx, a severe runny nose and sneezing appear. This increases the tear.
Throat condition
For those who do not know how to distinguish ARVI from influenza, doctors recommend paying attention to the condition of the mucous membranes of the throat and pharynx. An illness caused by the influenza virus is characterized by severe swelling, as well as redness of the soft palate and the back of the throat. A patient with acute respiratory viral infections has a swollen and red throat, while it has a loose structure.
By the way, if such signs of influenza and acute respiratory viral infections, such as swelling and hyperemia of the throat, are common, then an attack on the mucous membranes is typical only for the latter. 
Cough
Before you determine what ailment struck the body, it is worth remembering when a cough appeared. If this symptom began to bother at the very beginning of the development of the disease, and only then a runny nose joined and the temperature rose - this is SARS.
If the disease began with fever, body aches and headaches, and only a dry cough appeared on day 2-3, any doctor will diagnose the flu. Confirm the diagnosis can accompany the cough pain in the trachea and chest. If, with such symptoms, you do not start taking medications for influenza and SARS (Cycloferon, Viferon, Immunoflazid, Arbidol, Anaferon, Ingavirin, Rimantadine, Tamiflu, etc.) , the patient's condition can significantly worsen, because the virus will continue to exert its pathogenic effect on the respiratory system and the body as a whole.
Gastrointestinal tract reaction
In some cases, the reaction of the body to the influenza virus may be a violation of the gastrointestinal tract. Diarrhea and vomiting in the patient appears already 2-3 days after infection and lasts 24-48 hours. Without symptomatic therapy, the manifestation of this symptom can last for several more days and lead to dehydration.
Despite the fact that many of the symptoms of influenza and acute respiratory viral infections are very similar, you can independently diagnose the disease yourself. It is enough to carefully analyze the sequence and nature of the main clinical manifestations.
Duration of illness
If all the recommendations of the doctor are followed, the condition of the patient with SARS improves already on the third day, full recovery occurs on the 6-7th day. After suffering an illness, a person quickly restores strength and efficiency. 
Despite the fact that the incubation period of influenza and SARS is the same, the active phase of the latter proceeds much more complicated and longer. Only a high temperature in a patient can last up to 5-6 days, and the ailment begins to recede only by 10-12 days. However, these are not all “surprises” from the flu. After all, even after a full recovery within 2-3 weeks, a person experiences weakness, malaise and headaches.