Influenza is a virus. We can't kill it with antibiotics. We can only treat the symptoms. Flu symptoms come on abruptly after exposure to the breathing secretions of an infected person. Most patients can pinpoint the hour.
Symptoms can include fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches, feeling lousy, and loss of appetite.
You can get a dry cough, runny nose, hoarseness, and sore throat. Some people can get eye symptoms such as tearing, burning, and pain from eye movement. Coughs with chest discomfort and burning, stuffed or runny nose, and sore throat can last 3 to 4 days and sometimes longer, after the fever goes away. You may still have a cough and general lousy feeling for 1-2 weeks after everything else resolves. As if having the flu wasn't bad enough, you can get other complications such as bacterial infections.