How to Differentiate Between Viral and Bacterial Fevers

If you’ve ever experienced a fever, you know how unpleasant it can be. But what’s causing the fever? Is it a virus or bacteria? It can be difficult to differentiate between viral and bacterial fevers, but there are certain characteristics that can help you determine the cause. Here’s how to differentiate between viral and bacterial fevers.

Symptoms: One of the easiest ways to tell if your fever is caused by a virus or bacteria is to look at the other symptoms present. Viral fevers tend to come with cold-like symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, sore throat and runny nose. Bacterial fevers usually come with more severe symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

Duration: Another way to tell if your fever is caused by a virus or bacteria is to look at its duration. Viral fevers usually last for three days or less while bacterial fevers tend to last longer than three days and may even persist for weeks without treatment.

Treatment: The best way to differentiate between viral and bacterial fevers is through treatment. Viral infections do not respond well to antibiotics so they must be treated with rest, fluids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen for symptom relief only. On the other hand, bacterial infections are typically treated with antibiotics prescribed by your doctor which should help reduce the fever within 48 hours of starting treatment if it was caused by bacteria in the first place.

It can be difficult to distinguish between viral and bacterial causes of a fever without professional help from your doctor but these tips should give you an idea of where your infection might stem from so that you can get proper treatment as soon as possible!

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Fever, Virus, Bacteria, Symptoms, Duration, Treatment,

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