ELI5, why do viruses and bacteria have many of the same symptoms when they infect a human?

Question

Soar throat, sniffles, sneezes, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea- any combination of these could be covid, flu, common cold, adenovirus, astrovitus, strep, etc

In: 2

Answer 1

The *infections* could cause all sorts of problems.

*Your body’s response* will be fairly similar in many cases: “intruder alert, expel everything!” is a common one and covers sneezing, coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea, depending where the infection is. Likewise, your body sends a squad of white blood cells in full riot gear to the site of any infection – which then causes swelling as they flood the area.