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Updated: 2010/10/25RSS Feed

What to do if you or a Family Member has the Flu

• Is It a Cold or the Flu?
• What to Do If You or a Family Member Has the Flu
• Getting Better
• What to Do If a Team Member Has the Flu

Symptoms of flu come on suddenly and typically start with a fever (temperature over 38^oC/100.4^oF) followed by other symptoms.

It is probably the flu if you or a family member has a fever (temperature over 38^oC/100.4^oF) and a cough as well as possibly one or more of the following symptoms:

• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Muscle aches
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Decreased appetite
• Diarrhea, nausea or vomiting (only sometimes)

If you have flu-like symptoms, rest at home. Call a doctor or your municipal or provincial health line if your symptoms worsen.

Groups at Higher Risk of Suffering Complications If They Catch the Flu Virus

Contact a doctor for medical advice if the infected person belongs to one of the following high-risk groups:

Children under two, the elderly, pregnant women and individuals with chronic conditions such as heart or kidney disease, diabetes, asthma and chronic lung disease, suppressed immune systems, neurological disorders, liver disease, blood disorders or severe obesity.

Special Care for Children

• Monitor fever closely.
• Rapid rise in temperate to more than 39^oC/102.2^oF can cause a fever seizure, usually within the first day of the child becoming sick. Watch for sudden stiffness, jerky movements and vomiting. In case of a fever seizure, stay calm. Leave the child on the floor, move furniture and other objects away, stay close and monitor the child’s movements, and call for medical attention.
• Do not give Aspirin or other ASA-based pain treatments to children with fever as they have been linked to Reye’s Syndrome, a potentially fatal disease.

Be on the Alert for Complications From Flu

Call a health-care provider IMMEDIATELY for advice, if you or a family member has a fever and one of the following symptoms:

• Difficulty breathing that persists or worsens
• Chest pains
• Purplish or bluish lips
• Difficulty waking up or moving, unusually quiet or unresponsive, strange thoughts or actions
• Wheezing, shortness of breath or painful breathing
• Coughing blood
• Severe neck stiffness
• Return of fever during apparent return to health
• New onset of diarrhea, vomiting or abdominal pain
• Low urine production or other signs of dehydration

If you or a family member has a fever and one of the above symptoms, you may need to seek emergency help.