A common cold is a viral infectious disease which affects the upper respiratory tract and your nose voice box and your throat. The basic symptoms for a cold include coughing sneezing running nose fever and headache at times. A flu or called influenza is a respiratory illness which is highly contagious. Symptoms of a flu include high fever cold fatigue and aching limbs and joints. In both of these situations full body rest is recommended to the patient and the patient is given antibiotics and antivirals for the same. Dr Sudha Menon Director - Internal Medicine Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road