Is this right re illness from work?

[MammaKel]

Hi all,

My husband works for an agency and we've all come down with the flu (nursery lurgi) kids have been off nursery since Thursday and my husband has been off since Monday.

He rung the agency this morning to advise that he won't be in and they said " is it the flu? Or something else because I can't tell them (work) that you've been off 3 days with the flu if you know what I mean" which is fair enough but it seems really strange because as far as I'm aware the flu can last up to a week?

My husband has contacted the doctors, and it's not a massive deal but just seems a bit odd?

Just to mention as well he is really poorly, he's been in bed 3 days and he's a forklift driver so it wouldn't be safe to operate being unwell and medicated so he's not just skiving, we're dying here at the moment.

I'm just wondering if it is unusual for the flu to last longer than 3 days.

It isn't 'just' flu. Flu is nasty and makes you really unwell. You also need to keep away from others to stop spreading it. In most cases, you need more than three days to recover from flu.

Are they getting the flu and the common cold confused?

Flu, proper flu, is very serious and can last 1-3 weeks. Sniffles are a mild virus for 3-4 days. The common cold, which most people describe as flu, is 7-10 days.

I don't understand why the agency can't say he's got flu.

Forklift drivers are in real demand this time of year so I suspect the agency were just adding a bit of extra pressure in the hope it meant he might think he's well enough to work! Get well soon.

People who say it like that obviously have never had proper flu. I was crawling on the floor to get about the house I was so poorly.

Realistically he probably doesn't have influenza - he probably had a common cold virus - if multiple nursery age kids had influenza one could easily be unwell enough to be in hospital. Not sure that really helps though or what the GP can do? Doubt if they'll do a test as won't change his medical management.