Returned from UAE.. feel awful

[bungletru]

Hello
i I returned from the uae earlier this week and oh my goodness, I feel so unwell!
headcahe. Stuffy nose, runny nose, sinuses all blocked up.
my DS is also all fluey too.

should I be concerned ? It’s more about coming from the uae tbh. Seems like such a clean country and well looked after. Didn’t expect to come back home ill 😅😅

You have a cold/flu/covid. Very common after being on a plane. Not sure why you think having come from the UAE means you won't catch a cold type virus.

Indeed. No more mysterious than that.

Presumably you travelled on planes full of disgusting germy people? I often get ill after flying.

I've lived in the Middle East for 10 years. I'm yet to drop dead from UAE disease.

@SoupDragon I suppose because of the warm weather / excessive cleanliness there.

@JustWhatWeDontNeed yeah I thought as much..
ok so no specific UAE illness to worry about lol

You've been shut in a sealed tin box for hours on end, sharing air with hundreds of other people. It only takes one of them to pass their germs on to you. I don't see why you are so surprised.

Cold weather doesn't cause colds.

Hope you had a nice time though? Better to be ill after the holiday than it spoil your time away.

Lived in the UAE for years and was probably healthier than in the UK. Really nothing to worry about.

@mateysmum thank you

i dont spose the excessive cleanliness has any bearing, but who knows?
feel better soon

It’s Covid!

Errr did you do a test on me? Lol

It's either a cold or covid. These are global illnesses. Surely you recognise the symptoms?? It's not like a weird rash or a weird headache, you literally have cold symptoms!!

What PPs have said re close proximity to lots of other people

Went on holiday last August on a coach trip to Wales. Long long time on the coach going there and coming back, plus the Saturday was excursion trip, so on the coach again.
Had Covid on my return, as did my DM and DD

@saltnvini i get ur point. But colds never used to hit like this before….

Maybe learn about the symptoms of the new strain, how contagious it is and how wide spread it is too.

You are simply ticking all the boxes and it’s surprising it’s not the first thing that came to your mind after such a long trip in a plane, no mask (guessing ofc) etc…
And yes it’s still much worse than a cold and makes you feel shit…

@JustExistingNotLiving it has come to mind.. but you can’t diagnose me in an instant like that lol. I plan to test for sure.

You either have a cold or covid

An airborne virus isn't going to care about cleanliness and bugger off to somewhere else.

It’s probably covid. Hope you feel better soon.

MERS? (Covid variant) www.nhs.uk/conditions/middle-east-respiratory-syndrome-mers/

Thanks all. I don’t have any mers symptoms

and looking at the covid symptoms it’s not likely that either. About to test though so we will see

It’s probably not MERS. It’s really rare and difficult to spread (most cases have come from either close contact with camels/camel products or from close contact with people who have been infected by camels, it’s nowhere near as easily transmissible as Covid-19 etc). Most tourists are very unlikely to get it.

I live in the UAE and we have all the normal illnesses etc that you get elsewhere (so far this year my children have brought home; hand, foot and mouth, strep, and covid). Because it’s got so many expats and it’s such a popular winter tourist destination there’s always a bit of a spike in coughs and colds after the winter vacation when everyone comes back from visiting family all over the world and tourism is at its peak.
Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports are also big transportation hubs with loads of people from all over the world connecting flights via the UAE (meaning lots of different illnesses).
TBH it sounds a lot like the cold that my family and I had last week. We felt rough for about 5 days (snotty, sinus-y, lethargic etc) but we’re completely fine.
There aren’t many diseases that are common in the UAE that you wouldn’t get in the UK, hygiene and sanitation here is generally very good and most tropical diseases are either rare or not present here.

I have covid just now and these are my exact symptoms. I only tested as it was doing the rounds at work. Just thought I had a flu virus. Hope you're on the mend soon.

Well it’s not Covid. Have tested and I guess it’s a horrible cold/flu 😵🤧