While summertime often brings children suffering from rashes into hospital emergency rooms, winter is the season when ER doctors determine whether the plethora of runny noses, coughs and sore throats coming in are colds, infections or the flu.

Dr. Christania Morganti, a pediatric hospitalist physician at Butler Memorial Hospital, said many parents have a misconception of what the influenza virus is.

She said some people think the flu shot is to prevent vomiting and diarrhea, but the shot is for true influenza and its accompanying aches, chills, fever, cough and sore throat.

“They're down and out for quite a while if they have the flu,” Morganti said.

She said if parents bring a child in within 48 hours of flu-like symptoms showing up, doctors at the emergency room can give the child Tamiflu to reduce the length of the flu symptoms. But Tamiflu is only effective on influenza and not other viruses.

“There is a significant increase in the winter of coughs and colds,” Morganti said. “A lot of viruses are seasonal and rear their heads in the wintertime.”

She said either a cold or case of the flu can lead to pneumonia or a bacterial infection, which could require being admitted to the hospital. A nursery for babies and an area of the hospital's tower section for children is available for kids too sick to return home, Morganti said.

A temperature of 106 degrees that lasts for several days or a young baby with a fever who is feeling miserable are definite reasons for a parent to bring a youngster into the emergency room, Morganti said.

She said parents at home with a child who is coughing or has a sore throat caused by postnasal drip should slather the child's chest with a menthol rub, prop them up into an almost-sitting position, and give them dark honey to help with the cough.

She said over-the-counter cough and cold medicines can be used on children age 6 or older, but may not be effective on younger people suffering from similar symptoms.

Morganti said hand washing, especially when children return home from school, can help prevent colds and the flu.

Teaching children to cough into their elbow also can prevent the spread of the miserable maladies.

But parents who can't get their children to drink fluids or who have a miserable, fevered infant on their hands after their pediatrician's hours should not hesitate to seek professional advice.

“If you're worried, bring them in (to the ER) if you suspect something is going on,” Morganti said.