Stuck at home sick? It’s probably not the flu, according to infectious disease specialist Dr. Emily Landon at UChicago Medicine, but it may be another rapidly spreading virus.
But what is that virus?
“You probably have rhino enterovirus, and probably not influenza. There is a pretty nasty round of rhino entero going around right now,” said Landon, the Executive Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control at UChicago.
Flu season did start earlier than usual this year according to federal experts, and numbers are higher than what’s typical for October. However, data reflects cases are still considered low.
According to experts, Rhinovirus and Enterovirus are in the same virus family, which is why they’re often tested together on a lab panel. They are the primary cause of the common cold, but their initial symptoms can be very similar to the flu, leading to patients potentially thinking they’ve got influenza.
“When you first get sick, it can be really difficult to tell. Some people are going to have more severe illness with rhino enterovirus and might have a fever and a cough, but most people are going to have more of a runny nose and just feeling a little tired and maybe that head cold feel. Whereas influenza tends to cause more coughing and more severe illnesses with more fevers,” she said.
According to experts, flu season typically peaks in January in Chicago, and while Landon said no two flu seasons are precisely the same, it’s too early to consider the flu to be the primary health threat.
“Maybe that’ll be earlier this year than usual, but we are definitely not there yet with respect to flu,” said Landon.
Northwestern Medicine says flu and COVID cases are “slightly higher than usual” for this time of year. Rush University Medical Center said there is not one illness spiking but did confirm flu season started early.
Landon says there are some “waning cases from a late summer bump in COVID,” but that numbers are decreasing right now.
As for preventative measures like vaccinations, the flu vaccine takes about two weeks to take full effect, and doctors are urging people not to put off getting the shot.
“We don’t even start looking at whether or not the flu strains match the flu vaccine until the end of October, beginning of November,” said Landon.
“We know that what we’re seeing now are almost entirely H1N1 cases of influenza A,” she continued. “H1N1 influenza is often milder and not as dangerous as H3N2 influenza.”
Landon says regardless if it’s a perfect match, the vaccine is the best bet at protecting from serious illness.
“I would argue that it’s even more important because when the flu vaccine is less effective, then more people need to get it in order for it to have an effect. And you’re going to be exposed more in years where it’s not a good match. And so you want that protection from severe illness even more,” she said.