What's the difference between a flu and a cold?
Answers: The flu is caused by the influenza virus, whereas the cold is caused by the rhinovirus. There are a relatively small number of flu varieties...that's why each year flu shots are made available. The cold virus has literally hundreds of serotypes (varieties), and it's impractical (if not impossible) to make a vaccine for each and every one.
Both viruses have similar signs of infection (sneezing, coughing, tiredness), although flu is also associated with a fever and upper respiratory congestion whereas the common cold is not.
Flu is more likely to kill people, specifically high-risk people (children under 2, elderly, and immunocompromised). It's the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. (according to my parasitology/virology professor)...that's why it's so critical that a vaccine be made for it. You almost never hear of someone dying from a cold!
It also takes a little longer to fully recover from the flu (1-2 weeks) than the common cold (a few days to a week).
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