4 Signs You May Actually Have Two Illnesses At The Same Time

This winter illness season has been a rough one. States across the country have experienced high levels of respiratory viruses, like COVID-19, flu and RSV. And that’s not to mention the colds, stomach bugs, throat infections and a variety of other bugs that have been going around. Some people have reported their symptoms seem to be lasting longer than usual.

If you’ve been sick a lot recently or have had severe or long-lasting symptoms, you may be wondering: Is this just a really nasty bug? Or could I actually have had two overlapping viruses?

We talked to doctors about the likelihood and signs you may have two illnesses at the same time. Here’s what to know:

You could be dealing with two infections if you’re experiencing multiple symptoms that don’t seem to be connected.

Most of the time ― even if you have multiple symptoms ― it’s likely you only have one infection, Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins, told HuffPost.

But that said, it can be possible to have more than one infection simultaneously. “ Oftentimes we don’t know if we have two infections because there is such an overlap in symptoms,” said Dr. Larissa Pisney , an associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

For example, cough, fever and sore throat can all be symptoms of respiratory illnesses, like COVID-19, RSV and flu. And the only way to really tell if you have one or more of these is to get tested.

It can be easier to tell if to tell if you have co-infections if they’re specific to a type of tissue or part of the body, like if you have throat pain and white patches on your tonsils and then also develop itchy, red eyes.

So if a patient comes