Home | Health & Fitness | Conditions & Treatments |

Differences Between Colds and Other Illnesses

What is the difference between colds and allergies?

To properly view this site, javascript must be enabled and Flash version 9 or higher must be installed.
Get the latest Flash player

All Segments in this Video
All Videos by this Expert

View Comments (Add Comment)

Learn More

How to Care for a Sick Child at Home
What do you do when you find that your child is sick?
What are the basic recommendations to help care for a sick child at home?
What are some ways parents can manage the rest of the family while one child is sick?
Urgent Care Situations for a Sick or Injured Child
What about being sick when you are diabetic?

In this series, Kathy Reily discusses the various issues that diabetics face and how you can be healthy with diabetes.
What should a parent say to a health care provider when they call about a sick child?
When is it okay for a sick child to return to school?
How should a parent care for a child with the common cold?
How is managing an ill child different from taking care of an ill adult?

Expert
Video Details
Transcript

Dr. Ronald Turner

Professor of Pediatrics, UVA, Virginia School of Medicine

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu

Ronald Turner, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Turner earned his MD degree from Southern Illinois University and did his training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Columbus Children’s Hospital (Ohio State University) and the University of Virginia. He subsequently served in faculty positions at the University of Utah and the Medical University of South Carolina. In addition to his administrative role at the University of Virginia, Dr. Turner has clinical care and teaching responsibilities in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. His research interests are directed at the pathogenesis and treatment of viral respiratory infections.

What is the difference between colds and allergies?

In this video Ronald Turner, MD of the University of Virginia explains all of the various issues surrounding the common cold virus. He discusses everything from prevention to treatment to how to treat colds in chilren.

This expert: 53,000 views

This series: 15,635 views

Download to Mobile Device

Tags:

Sick

Runny

Nose

Cough

Sore

Throat

Medicine

Comments:

0 (Read Comments) (Add Comment)

Transcripts

Host: What is the difference between the colds and allergies?

Ronald Turner: The differences between cold and allergies really first start with the way that they are caused. The cold is caused by an infectious agent, a virus. Allergies are caused by allergic reaction to in a material that is in the environment and so, the mechanism of the two diseases is different. The symptoms are really quite comparable. So, runny nose, sneezing, cough, those things are all associated with both colds and allergies.

But the allergies tend to be a little different in the sense that there tends to be more itching of the nose and the eyes associated with allergies, you can have some redness of the eyes associated with allergies, sneezing tends to be a more prominent symptom with allergies and the progression of the symptoms tends to be a little different. With colds you start with your illness, it becomes worse over a day or two and then it starts to get better. With allergies, it tends to start very quickly and be as severe as it is going to be and then stay that way after as long as you exposed to the allergen. So, the course of the illness is also a little different.

What is the difference between colds and allergies?

What is the difference between a cold and the flu?

Can a cold evolve into the flu?

Can you get a cold and the flu simultaneously?