According to the latest figures from Sciensano released last Friday, 1,985 people carrying the virus are currently hospitalized, of which 96 are in intensive care. Figures respectively up 25 and 35% compared to the previous week. With regard to bronchiolitis, our country faces an “unprecedented” epidemic since the end of November. And finally, the epidemic threshold for influenza has been crossed home in the middle of December. “A particularly striking timing”, according to Marc Van Ranst, who specifies “that in 2020, the peak of the epidemic was not recorded until mid-February.”
A situation that also worries in France, where the Minister of Health François Braun spoke on Wednesday of a “week of all dangers” for the French health system. It is also facing a “triple epidemic” of Covid, bronchiolitis and above all, an “explosion of cases” of influenza.
Therefore, caution is in order, especially when we know that the symptoms of these three viruses are very similar and that confusion between viruses is never far away…
Covid, flu, bronchiolitis: are masks back in our daily lives?
To help doctors tell the difference, a new kind of self-test was put on the market during the month of September, as reported by RTBF. It is a combined rapid antigen test that can determine if a patient is suffering from Covid-19, influenza or bronchiolitis.
But concretely, how does it work? This self-test works like the self-tests sold in pharmacies which detect Covid-19. To find out if you have one of these three diseases, you just have to take a sample from your nose using a swab, which you immerse in a liquid solution. Then, all you have to do is put a few drops in a cassette made up of three strips, instead of just one for the Covid self-test. After only 15 minutes, you will finally be able to put a name to your illness.
“Three-in-one” self-test: 95% reliability
Available in some pharmacies and online stores, these kits will cost you between 5 and 10 euros each. Their reliability rate “reaches 95%”, assures Beni De Wever, director of the company that imports them from China. “We can very quickly distinguish between the flu and the Covid. The symptoms are more or less the same, but we still have to treat the diseases differently”, he explains to our colleagues from the RTBF.
Tested in the emergency rooms of 4 Brussels hospitals, these testing kits represent “an important asset” for some. For others, they must be “taken with a grain of salt” because the reliability of the results is not 100% guaranteed.
In the event of symptoms, the medical staff always recommends a PCR test and the respect of a period of isolation.
Covid, flu and bronchiolitis: what are the differences between the symptoms?
Stuffy nose, fever, fatigue, headaches: it is sometimes difficult to make the connection between the symptoms from which one suffers and the various diseases which circulate in winter, in particular at the end of the year. Therefore, here is how to differentiate bronchiolitis, Covid or flu, in order to adopt the appropriate treatment.
When it comes to Covid-19, the main symptoms are runny nose, sore throat, headache, persistent cough and fatigue.
On the other hand, if you lose your sense of smell, there is a good chance that it is because of the Covid because, even if it is no longer systematic in the event of infection with the coronavirus, anosmia is rarely reported in colds. and the flu. And among the new symptoms listed we also find diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. In the most extreme cases, one may also experience severe respiratory distress.
Covid: are we ready to take the Chinese shock?
At the level of the flu, the symptoms are intense fever (around 39°C), severe fatigue, headaches, body aches, chills and sometimes a cough or nasal congestion. In summary, symptoms that can be confused with those of the coronavirus. However, fever is often higher with the flu, while sore throats are more intense with Covid.
And finally, bronchiolitis particularly affects children of abs-age. Symptoms begin with a runny nose, cough or shortness of breath. They quickly manifest themselves in difficulty in breathing and wheezing.