Infectious Diseases: Common cold or the flu?

Influenza and the common cold are respiratory illnesses caused by viruses. Symptoms may be so similar they may be tell the difference at first. “There are over 100 different types of rhinovirus, which is what makes the common cold so common,“ says Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic. “ The symptoms that we see with common cold tend to be runny nose, cough, some people may have a mild fever.“ “Influenza is a specific type of infection caused by a specific virus.