Fever- You normally don’t get a fever with a cold, while a 100-degree-plus temperature is common with a flu bug. So, if you get out your trusty thermometer and it doesn’t crack triple-digits, you probably have a cold.

Aches and Pains- The flu is marked by headaches and other bad aches around the body; colds tend not to have as many aches.

Chills-Chills are more of a symptom of the flu.

Phlegm Fatale- A cold will produce a lot of mucus, producing chest congestion and stuffed-up sinuses; cold will produce coughs that will bring up plenty of mucus, while flu coughs are usually drier.

Speed- The flu tends to hit very quickly, within 3-6 hours, while cold symptoms are slower to manifest themselves. You may “think you have a cold” but you’ll know it when you get the flu.

Also, don’t confuse H1N1 with rotaviruses that are commonly called stomach flu or intestinal flu; rotaviruses cause vomiting and diarrhea rather than a dry cough and plenty of aches; if you’re “praying to the porcelain gods Rolf and Earl”, you probably have a rotavirus rather than the flu.

If you do have the flu, there isn’t much the doctor can do. Antibiotics don’t work on either colds or flues, since they are viruses rather than bacteria. You need antivirals to go after the flu, but those have higher side-effects than antibiotics and are generally reserved for very bad cases or people with poor immune systems.

There are a number of things that you can do, many of which are old-school disease treating tools. Drink plenty of liquids, which will give your system the tools needed to flush things out. Get plenty of rest, since your immune system is working overtime and needs to have all hands on deck to get rid of this nasty invader.

Lastly, stay home. Going to work or school runs the risk of giving your coworkers and classmates the same joy you’re going through, so tell your inner tough guy to get lost and stay put.

H1N1 tends to affect younger people more than older people, since many folks over 55 have been exposed to a cousin of the current H1N1 virus back in 1957. Also, this flu isn’t as lethal as many viruses of the recent past, like the bird flu that hit Asia or SARS that hit Canada and China earlier in the decade. That being said, people have died from this bug, including 4 people in Kentucky.

You don’t get swine flu from eating pork products. Pigs and humans have similar cardiovascular systems and thus are prone to the same diseases, but proper cooking will kill off the virus; lunch meats are already cooked, so any bugs they have aren’t generally from the animals providing the meat.

That’s one of the reasons the media has made an effort not to use “swine flu” to describe the virus; while it is suspected that the virus was first transmitted via pigs, it was more likely from live pigs to a farmer, not from eating a ham sandwich or a BLT.

Most of the prevention methods are good for avoiding any bug; wash your hands before eating, keep those hands away from your mouth and nose if they haven’t been washed and keep away from folks if you’re sick. Hand sanitizers like Purell have done a land-office business this year; when H1N1 hit the University of Florida’s football team had, a Kentucky sportswriter christened their head coach Urban “Purell” Meyer.

Face masks can catch coughs and help keep you from infecting others, but they are less effective in keeping yourself from getting infected. A better prevention method that is underused is staying home when you’re sick. We often have the ethic of “playing hurt” and trying to tough-out your illness, but you don’t want other folks to go through H1N1, so stow your inner John Wayne and stay home if you’re sick.