Regardless of whether it's the flu, the virus that's been hitting the Minot region has been a nasty one. The absentee rate in area schools is up, and medical clinics are busy. According to the North Dakota Health Department, there has been no influenza confirmed in northwestern or northcentral North Dakota. The 107 laboratory-confirmed cases largely have been in the northeast and the Bismarck region. Rather, it is simply a cold virus that likes to hang on for one to three weeks, he said.
Common symptoms are upper respiratory problems and sometimes fever.
Antibiotics do not work against viruses. Dr. Thomas Carver, pediatrician at Medical Arts Clinic, said the virus presents itself much like the flu, with fever, scratchy throat and dry cough. However, he said, the pediatric department hasn't been ordering lab tests. Whether the flu or a cold, the treatment is much the same, Carver said. There are new drugs to treat influenza, but they only shorten the duration by a day or so and are costly, with unknown side effects, so he hasn't been prescribing them, he said.