Your child is very tired and has a cough and a stuffy nose. How do you know if it’s the flu or merely a cold?

It’s important to identify flu as early as possible because a health care professional can prescribe anti-viral medicine to lessen flu’s effects and shorten its duration. Prescription anti-viral medications work best if they’re started within the first 48 hours of getting the flu.

Some flu and cold symptoms are quite similar. But other symptoms are unique to the flu, which helps to identify it. These symptoms are: fever, aches, chills, tiredness, sudden onset.

A stuffy nose, sore throat and hoarseness indicate a cold, while vomiting is a sign of a stomach bug, says Susan Rehm, MD, who treats infectious diseases at Cleveland Clinic.