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When to Get Medical Help for Flu Symptoms (PDF)
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What are the symptoms of influenza?
What should I do if I get sick?
Seek medical care for people at high-risk
Get medical help immediately for these symptoms
Who should take antiviral drugs?
When should I go to the emergency room?
How long should I stay home if I'm sick?
Don't wait to get sick
What are the symptoms of influenza?
You may have influenza (flu) if you have some or all of these symptoms:
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- runny or stuffy nose
- body aches
- headache
- chills
- very tired
- sometimes diarrhea and vomiting (most common in young children or the elderly)
What should I do if I get sick?
Most people are sick with the flu for 3-5 days and get better on their own. People without high-risk conditions that aren't very sick usually don't need to seek medical help, but should:
- Stay home. Avoid contact with other people as much as you can to keep from spreading your illness to others.
- Rest and drink lots of fluids.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or cough or sneeze into your sleeve.
- Wash your hands often – with soap and water, or a hand sanitizer.
- If necessary, take medicine to reduce fever.
- Watch for symptoms of more serious illness. (see below)
Call your health care provider if you or a family member has symptoms you are concerned about, such as a very high fever.
Seek medical care for people at high-risk
Some people are at high risk of getting very sick from flu. The following people should call their health care provider as soon as symptoms of flu develop:
- Is pregnant or within the last two weeks of delivery
- Is a child under 2 years of age
- Has neurologic or neuromuscular disorder, asthma or chronic lung diseases like COPD or cystic fibrosis, heart disease (except high blood pressure), liver or kidney disease, a blood disorder (such as sickle cell disease), metabolic or endocrine disorders (such as diabetes), severely obese, weakened immune system due to disease or medicines (including HIV/AIDS, cancer chemotherapy, on long term steroids, or anti-rejection drugs for transplants)
- Is 65 or older
Health care providers will determine whether flu testing and possible treatment are needed. Your health care provider may prescribe antiviral drugs that can treat the flu. These drugs work better when they are started soon after symptoms develop.
Get medical help immediately for these symptoms
Infants and Children
- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Not urinating or no tears when crying
- Severe or repeated vomiting
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Pain or pressure in chest or belly
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Flu-like symptoms that get better but then return with fever and worse cough
- Fever with a rash
Adults
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or belly
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or repeated vomiting
- Flu-like symptoms that get better but then return with fever and worse cough
- Severe dehydration
Who should take antiviral drugs?
Most healthy people who get the flu do not need antiviral drug treatment.
It's very important that antiviral drugs be used early to treat people who are very sick with the flu (for example people who are in the hospital) and those with high-risk factors that increase their chance of serious complications from the flu.
When should I go to the emergency room?
If you get sick with flu symptoms and are at high risk of flu complications or you are concerned about your illness, call your health care provider for advice. You should only go to the emergency room if you need to seek immediate medical care.
How long should I stay home if I'm sick?
Stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
Don't wait to get sick
Vaccination increases your odds of preventing the flu – get vaccinated!
Flu Complications
Most people who get flu will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some people will develop complications (such as pneumonia) as a result of flu, some of which can be life-threatening and result in death.
Sinus and ear infections are examples of moderate complications from flu, while pneumonia is a serious flu complication that can result from either flu virus infection alone or from co-infection of flu virus and bacteria. Other possible serious complications triggered by flu can include inflammation of the heart (myocarditis), brain (encephalitis) or muscle tissues (myositis, rhabdomyolysis), and multi-organ failure (for example, respiratory and kidney failure). Flu virus infection of the respiratory tract can trigger an extreme inflammatory response in the body and can lead to sepsis, the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Flu also can make chronic medical problems worse. For example, people with asthma may experience asthma attacks while they have flu, and people with chronic heart disease may experience a worsening of this condition triggered by flu.
People at Higher Risk from Flu
Anyone can get sick with flu, even healthy people, and serious problems related to flu can happen to anyone at any age, but some people are at higher risk of developing serious flu-related complications if they get sick. This includes people 65 years and older, people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), pregnant people and children younger than 5 years, but especially those younger than 2 years old.