{"id":501859,"date":"2026-01-08T18:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501859\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T18:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:01:13","slug":"most-common-early-warning-signs-of-the-flu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501859\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Common Early Warning Signs Of The Flu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Influenza<\/a> is everywhere right now.<\/p>\n

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, more than half of the country is reporting high or very high flu activity. Flu cases are also expected to continue <\/a>climbing<\/a>, meaning even more people will contract the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumbers of emergency department visits, outpatient visits, hospitalizations are all on the increase, and it looks like this is mostly driven by numbers in children,\u201d Dr. Robert Hopkins<\/a>, the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said. Younger adults with the flu are next, but Hopkins said he suspects cases among older adults will soon make up a larger share of the data.<\/p>\n

The flu can infect anyone and cause serious complications in healthy people and those at high risk. While hand-washing, mask-wearing and vaccination can help to limit contraction of the flu, it\u2019s a hard virus to avoid.<\/p>\n

Here are the first symptoms to look for this winter and what to do if you get sick:<\/p>\n

Fever and headache are among the first signs of flu.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFor most people, all ages, the classic symptoms are going to be a pretty abrupt onset of fever, headaches, body aches are really common,\u201d said Dr. Madison Szar, a pediatrician with Bluebird Kids Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chills are common. Respiratory symptoms, such as cough, runny nose and sore throat may also present early.<\/p>\n

Nausea and vomiting can be common in kids.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The flu shows up a little differently in children.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften in kids, especially our younger kids, we can typically see more gastrointestinal complaints,\u201d Szar said.<\/p>\n

This includes stomach pain, nausea, vomiting or simply not wanting to eat.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

ingwervanille via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The flu tends to come on faster and stronger than a common cold.<\/p>\n

Flu tends to come on faster than a cold.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re coming down with a cold, it\u2019s common to have a scratchy throat for a few days before the full sickness hits. This isn\u2019t the case with the flu.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlu tends to hit very hard and very fast,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cPeople will often be able to tell you within the minute or the hour when their symptoms started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only do flu symptoms come on more swiftly, but they\u2019re generally more severe than cold symptoms, according to Szar.<\/p>\n

While many flu symptoms overlap with the signs of other respiratory viruses, you can\u2019t tell which virus you have unless you take a flu or COVID test. But \u201cgenerally, if it hits, you feel lousy all of a sudden, you can almost call it to the minute, then that, I can say, is pretty predictably influenza,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n

When you notice flu symptoms, let your doctor know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to contact your doctor when you notice early flu symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some anti-virals that we can give, but often will work the best within the first 48 hours of symptom onset,\u201d Szar explained. This is especially important for high-risk patients like those with asthma or COPD, Szar added.<\/p>\n

Certain symptoms also require medical attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have initial fever, and then fever gets better and it is controlled without medicine, and your fever comes back, that\u2019s a warning sign, from my perspective, that you really need to make sure you see a health care professional at that point, because flu can also set you up for secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia,\u201d said Hopkins.<\/p>\n

The flu can also cause dehydration. If you\u2019re feeling lightheaded, dizzy or not urinating frequently, you should talk to your doctor, he said.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re sick, stay home and take care of yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are one of the millions of people who get the flu this winter, stay home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to share what you have with others in your family or in your community,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cThe flu is severe for many people. Even if you fight it off just fine, your neighbor or colleague may not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prioritize hydration by drinking water, herbal tea, Gatorade, Pedialyte or something similar.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing sick will dehydrate your body pretty quickly and make it harder, not only to fight the infection, but it causes you just not to feel good when you\u2019re dehydrated,\u201d Szar said.<\/p>\n

Fever reducers and pain relievers may also help, both doctors said. Decongestants and cough medication can aid adults, but for children over the age of 1, Szar tends to recommend giving honey to ease a cough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be remiss not to mention, if you haven\u2019t already, the flu vaccine is one of the best ways to reduce the severity of illness, even if you do get the flu,\u201d Szar said.<\/p>\n

The flu vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization or severe disease, and also decreases the length of time that you\u2019re sick. While the fall is the best time to get the vaccine, it\u2019s not too late in the season to obtain it. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting vaccinated can reduce your likelihood of having a second flu through the course of the flu season,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite comments that have been made by, shall we say, people in positions of power, the flu vaccine remains the most important active measure we can make to reduce the impact of flu on everyone, 6 months of age and older,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Flu deaths in children during the 2024-2025 season hit a record high<\/a>, and several states \u2015 such as Massachusetts<\/a> and Illinois<\/a> \u2015 are already reporting pediatric flu deaths for this season, in addition to deaths in older adults<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hopkins also encouraged people to get the flu shot sooner rather than later because it takes about two weeks to develop a protective immune response.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a family member or a friend or a colleague that\u2019s not been vaccinated, encourage them strongly to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Let\u2019s minimize the impact of what\u2019s already looking like a bad flu season,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Influenza is everywhere right now. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":501860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47180,210,67,132,68,2040],"class_list":{"0":"post-501859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-flu","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-vaccination"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115860792028563495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}