Sick right now? It's probably not the flu, but this virus is surging

Stuck at home sick? It s probably not the flu, according to infectious disease specialist Dr. Emily Landon at UChicago Medicine, but it may be another rapidly spreading virus. But what is that virus? You probably have rhino enterovirus, and probably not influenza. There is a pretty nasty round of rhino entero going around right now, said Landon, the Executive Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control at UChicago. Flu season did start earlier than usual this year according to federal experts, and numbers are higher than what s typical for October. However, data reflects cases are still considered low. According to experts, Rhinovirus and Enterovirus are in the same virus family, which is why they re often tested together on a lab panel. They are the primary cause of the common cold, but their initial symptoms can be very similar to the flu, leading to patients potentially thinking they ve got influenza. When you first get sick, it can be really difficult