Difference Between Signs & Symptoms of a Disease

The difference between a sign and a symptom of a disease can be confusing. While the two words seem to be describing the same thing, signs and symptoms have different meanings.

Identification

Signs are objective while symptoms are subjective, differencebetween.net points out. Signs can be heard, felt or seen. Symptoms cannot be felt by anyone else besides the patient.

Features

A sign could be a condition like a high temperature, a rapid pulse rate or lesions. A symptom could be fever, chills, aches or itchiness.

Tell the Doctor

Because symptoms can only be felt by the patient, the patient needs to be very descriptive when telling the doctor about them.

Considerations

Unlike symptoms, signs can be verified or measured by a doctor. For instance, aches cannot be measured by a doctor, but blood pressure or pulse rate can.

Making the Diagnosis

Signs can only be diagnosed by a doctor, while anybody can describe or point out the symptoms of the flu, for example. The same symptoms can occur with many different diseases, and only a doctor can identify the signs that narrow the condition down to a particular disease.

References

• differencebetween.net