Does sleeping with wet hair and catching a cold give you the flu? It’s not exactly like that.

4. Can poorly treated influenza turn into pneumonia?

TRUE. But it is important to keep in mind that in the vast majority of cases, pneumonia is caused by bacteria, unlike influenza, which is caused by the influenza virus. Therefore, influenza does not directly turn into pneumonia, but it can create conditions that increase the risk of developing the disease. What happens, explains Costa, is that the viral condition can leave the infected person with low immunity for a period of time, which leads to the growth of bacteria.

This means that, in this scenario, bacteria that are normally destroyed by the immune system could take advantage of the lowered defenses during influenza and cause pneumonia. “So, yes, there is a relationship between viral infection and bacterial pneumonia,” he adds. “They are two different organisms, but one favors the other.”

5. If a cold is not treated, will it turn into the flu? Is the flu a bad cold and the common cold a weak flu?

myth. There is no such thing as a “bad cold,” explains infectious disease specialist Ujvari, because the virus that causes it has a specific course: first, it affects the mucous membrane, causing mild symptoms such as a runny nose, but then the body fights it, producing immune cells and antibodies to destroy the virus.

Furthermore, they are two different diseases. The common cold is caused by a less aggressive virus, while the flu is caused by a more aggressive virus, causing a high temperature and sore throat.