# What's the line between a cold and a flu? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828 "2005-11-06T23:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/21 "2005-11-08T14:44:08Z")
**Trunk** , I don’t know the answer to your first question (where are the viruses themselves), but I have heard \*\*Qadop \*_and other doctors say that 24 hour “flu” is almost certainly a case of mild food contamination or “food poisoning”. Sorry, I’m not willing to cite it at the moment_, but hopefully one of those actual doctors will be in shortly with a good link. Or I’ll have a chance to later today. (\*WhyBaby’s crying, gotta go.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/22 "2005-11-08T14:55:53Z")
(Baby’s happy now, banging on the keys. If there’re typos, it’s her fault!) [Clostridum oerfringens](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5568.html) is a common bacteria in food, and is one of the main culprits in “24 hour flu”. And now a word from the baby: u mnyhg b bvcnexxxxxxxxxxxx Thank you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/23 "2005-11-08T15:09:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > **Trunk** , I don’t know the answer to your first question (where are the viruses themselves), but I have heard \*\*Qadop \*_and other doctors say that 24 hour “flu” is almost certainly a case of mild food contamination or “food poisoning”. Sorry, I’m not willing to cite it at the moment_, but hopefully one of those actual doctors will be in shortly with a good link. Or I’ll have a chance to later today. I didn’t say this earlier so as not to bias anyone, but that day, I’d actually eaten a bunch of shrimp and as stupid as this sounds. . .I “felt” like it was the shrimp that did it. Within hours of eating, I had serious rumblings, and then full-on two-ended expulsions. I’ve never felt more like my body was just trying to get rid of what was in it. That’s probably what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/24 "2005-11-08T15:13:43Z")
Influenza is generally **not** a gastro-intestinal disease. If your major symptoms are nausea and vomiting and you’re an adult, you probably have something else. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/25 "2005-11-08T15:36:51Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Influenza is generally **not** a gastro-intestinal disease. If your major symptoms are nausea and vomiting and you’re an adult, you probably have something else. **QtM** , then why do they call it the stomach flu then? Just some sort of common knowledge? And can I ask you another question? Why is it that I’ve never gotten the flu? I’ve even been with my parents, taking care of them for a whole weekend when they had the flu and I never caught it. Isn’t it contagious? Am I just immune? ---
**Author:** ![OslerKnew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/58f4c7/32.png) [@OslerKnew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OslerKnew)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/26 "2005-11-08T15:40:35Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > **Trunk** , but hopefully one of those actual doctors will be in shortly with a good link. Here is a link to help understand the difference between colds and flu [http://familydoctor.org/x7554.xml](http://familydoctor.org/x7554.xml) Check out the home page of this link for many, many useful health tips/facts brought to you by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Misconception abounds about the differences. “Flu” should properly be used only to describe an illness related to the strain of viruses known as “Influenza”. In common use however, many other viral illness get the label “flu”. Stomach flu, when used in this context refers to a viral gastroenteritis, not food poisoning. There are a huge number of non-Influenza viruses that cause clinical illness, from minor to severe/lifethreatening. Some cause colds, some cause sore throats, some cause vomiting/diarrhea, some cause rashes, some cause earaches, some cause bronchitis, some cause meningitis, and the list goes on… But again, properly speaking, these should not be called “flu”. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/27 "2005-11-08T16:20:45Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > **QtM** , then why do they call it the stomach flu then? Just some sort of common knowledge? > > And can I ask you another question? Why is it that I’ve never gotten the flu? I’ve even been with my parents, taking care of them for a whole weekend when they had the flu and I never caught it. Isn’t it contagious? Am I just immune? What **Oslerknew** said. And I suspect you were just fortunate. Perhaps resistant to some strains, or possibly just didn’t get an adequate inoculation of them. Just don’t go around thinking you can’t get it. Aequanimitas, **Oslerknew**. 😃 What’s your connection with Doctor Sir Willie? QtM, former grunt in the Osler Marines at the East Baltimore Dispensary. ---
**Author:** ![OslerKnew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/58f4c7/32.png) [@OslerKnew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OslerKnew)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/28 "2005-11-08T16:34:57Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Aequanimitas, **Oslerknew**. 😃 And to you as well. 🙂 No formal connection to Hopkins, but Osler is my personal inspiration for all things medical in the realm of the powers of observation and introspection. Cheers, Another family doc and a Dope newbie! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/29 "2005-11-08T16:39:17Z")
> [@OslerKnew](#): > > And to you as well. 🙂 > > No formal connection to Hopkins, but Osler is my personal inspiration for all things medical in the realm of the powers of observation and introspection. > > Cheers, > Another family doc and a Dope newbie! Welcome! More power to you! You gots yourself a great role model there! But despite my miniscule surgical skills, I identify with Halsted a bit more than Osler. 'cept I got better. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/30 "2005-11-08T18:20:15Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > I would disagree slightly with your second paragraph. I had the Hong Kong Flu in 1968. At the time I was 16 years old and a jock. This bug damn near killed me. No bullshit, I had to crawl to the head in the morning I was so weak. Two fucking weeks, and 20 lbs of muscle lost before I got better. I would say that the line is here. If you think you are going to die, it’s a cold. If you are afraid that you might get better, cause dying would be so much easier, it’s the flu. > I agree 100% with your last paragraph. A real case of the flu will kick your ass like nothing else. I also had the Hong Kong flu in '68. Worst I’ve ever felt. I was dilerious for a couple of days, and horribly sick and weak for many more. I too lost close to 20 lbs., and there were a couple of times I’m sure I was praying for death to put me out of my misery. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828/31 "2005-11-09T04:11:39Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Non-medical, slightly humorous answer, of indeterminate origin. You’re in bed resting with the illness, when you notice outside your window, a $100 bill on your lawn. > > If you go outside to get it, you have a cold. I heard this in slightly longer form: If someone drops a $100 bill outside, and you have a bad cold, you can’t go out and get it. If the same thing happens and you have the 'flu, you don’t care about going to get it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-line-between-a-cold-and-a-flu/329828.md?page=1)