The common cold; the stomach flu; influenza: When is it contagious, and for how long? And what’s the difference between the three of these, anyway? “Flu”, just so you know, does not necessarily involve the stomach, unless you call it “stomach flu”. Influenza is a better term, as is gastroenteritis (which is hard to remember, so stomach flu works in my book; at least I know what you mean!) It’s just more specific and descriptive and helps the rest of us to know what you’re talking about.
Here are three very short, easy read article and chart links to help you learn more about contagiousness and symptoms, so you can plan around it if you, someone in your household, or a person you are going to be around has caught one of these common, contagious, viral illnesses:
Common Cold, Flu (Influenza) and Stomach flu symptoms chart
Here’s another small article that goes through the main differences in a jiffy, so you don’t have to spend all day reading about it:
Another really short article that I found helpful on stomach flu:
Viral Gastroenteritis (stomach flu)
All of these illnesses can be prevented to a degree with proper hand washing. Though the stomach flu is extremely contagious (it seems to spread through the air, phone, TV and simply by receiving the information that someone you know has it…), don’t be fooled into thinking it’s impossible to stop it and give up on preventing the spread. Wash hands and don’t share food or drinks for up to two weeks (YES! Did you see that in this last article?? TWO (2) weeks!!)
