The symptoms of swine flu are similar to seasonal flu. People typically have fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Also, like seasonal flu, severe illnesses and death has occurred as a result of illness associated with this virus. At this point, the illness caused by flu has typically not been excessively severe when compared to seasonal flu.

Key factors to consider if you’re wondering if you have flu are fever and exposure to the flu virus. Most experts suggest that if a person doesn’t have a fever greater than 100.4, then they don’t have flu. Of course, if you took a strong dose of Tylenol, Motrin, or other fever reducer, you may not have a fever when checking your temperature.

The other key aspect is that a person needs to have been exposed to the flu virus. The incubation period of flu is about 2-7 days. If you have the symptoms, and there is a good chance you were exposed to someone with flu within the previous week, then flu is a good possibility. On the other hand, if you haven’t been around anyone who might have flu for more than a week, it is less likely that you have flu. No exposure = Not the flu. However, at the time of writing this article on 11 May 2009, there were identified cases of flu in more than 40 states in America, and in 29 countries worldwide. The actual number of cases is likely many times higher than the identified cases. As the pandemic spreads, it is going to me more and more difficult to say that a person wasn’t exposed.

These are the symptoms that you're likely to see if your have swine flu. There are also a few laboratory tests that can be used to confirm the diagnosis. If you see a doctor with a respiratory infection during this pandemic, he or she may collect some respiratory secretions for testing. That probably won’t change treatment, but it will help the public health authorities understand the epidemic and its spread. Please see if you get sick for more information about taking care of yourself or family members if you think you have the flu. For information about the laboratory test, you can read FDA swine flu test kit facts for patients.