What is the difference between a cold and the flu?

cold and the flu? can be the same.

I didn't do any research on the two but according to my own interpretation from doctors, a cold is having runny nose whereas a flu is having both a runny nose and a cough. Body ache is a symptom of both cold and flu.

flu means fever

You can't really treat the flu. You can take something to help with the pain and to help you rest, but it wont actually cure the flu. The flu has to run it's course. A cold you can treat and cure by taken medicine. A cold and flu are caused by different viruses. A flu can consist a fevor, body aches, dry cough and tiredness. And with a cold the signs are less severe. And with a cold you have body aches, but they are limited. It's not as severe as the body aches you might have if you had the flu. Now you can get a fevor with the cold, but it's rare. It's more common to have a fevor with the flu. So a fevor is usually present with the flu. And you might have the chills with the flu. It's common to have chills with the flu and very slight to have the chills with just a cold. Another thing to know is that if you are sneezing, it's probably just a cold. It's more common to sneeze. It's very uncommon to sneeze with the flu. And chest discomfort is often severe with the flu. To be 100% sure, I would talk with a doctor though. It's very easy to mistake the two. I had the flu a few months back and my son actually just got over having the flu. Hope this helps some.