Call 911 right away if:
- Trouble breathing, fast breathing, or ribs pulling in with each breath
- Bluish lips or face
- Chest or belly pain or pressure that doesn’t go away
- Confusion, being hard to wake, or not alert when awake
- A seizure
- Not urinating, or a child with no urine for 8 hours, a dry mouth, and no tears
Cold or flu?
- A cold usually starts slowly, with a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat, and cough. It usually gets better in 7 to 10 days.
- Flu often starts suddenly, with fever or chills, body aches, headache, tiredness, and cough. It can be serious, especially for young children, older adults, pregnant people, and people with long-term health conditions.
What to do
- Rest and stay home when you’re sick.
- Drink plenty of fluids, like water, broth, or warm tea.
- Ease symptoms. Over-the-counter medicines can help with fever, aches, and stuffiness. Follow the package directions, and check labels so you don’t take the same ingredient (like acetaminophen) in two products.
- Soothe a sore throat or cough with warm drinks, saltwater gargles, lozenges (for older children and adults), or a humidifier.
- Call your doctor early if you are at higher risk. Prescription flu medicine (antivirals) works best when started within 2 days of getting sick.
- Go back to normal activities when your symptoms are getting better overall and you have had no fever for at least 24 hours without using fever medicine.
Antibiotics don’t work against colds or flu, because they are caused by viruses.
For babies and children
- Don’t give cough and cold medicines to children under 2. Many products say not to use them under age 4. Ask your child’s doctor or a pharmacist first.
- Don’t give aspirin to children or teens. It is linked to Reye’s syndrome, a rare but serious illness.
- Honey can soothe a cough in children over 1 year old. Never give honey to babies under 1.
- Use saline drops and a bulb syringe for a baby’s stuffy nose.
Prevention
- Get a flu vaccine every year. It’s recommended for almost everyone 6 months and older.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water.
- Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow.
See a doctor or go to urgent care if:
- Any fever in a baby younger than 12 weeks (3 months) — call the doctor right away
- A child has a fever above 104°F (40°C) that doesn’t come down with fever medicine — get medical care right away
- Fever or cough gets better, then comes back or gets worse
- You’re at higher risk (age 65 or older, pregnant, a young child, or living with a condition like asthma, diabetes, or heart disease) and you think you have flu — antiviral medicine works best within 2 days
- Symptoms last more than 10 days, or a chronic condition is getting worse