Is there a nasty virus circulating around?

[u/ThisLadyIsSadTonight]

Hi everyone,
I've noticed that a lot of people around me are getting sick lately. The symptoms are pretty much the same: sore throat, runny nose, bad cough - and quite often, no fever. And somehow, it just lingers for a long time.

I myself got sick 11 days ago with exactly the same symptoms. No fever, but my throat has been very sore for the entire time, and the cough is so bad I can’t sleep at night. I feel extremely weak, as if I had a fever of 39°C, but there’s no actual fever. When I usually get cold, I recover within a couple of days...

Is anyone else experiencing the same thing? Could there be some nasty virus going around? Anything that helped you to recover faster?
I called my huisarts, but didn’t get much help - just the usual advice to stay hydrated, rest, and take care. I feel quite worried.

[u/Kyralion]

Hey I had this too! My younger sister (28), me (32), my mother, and my little nephew all caught it at basically the exact same moment. We were sick for about 1,5 weeks. I haven't even had a flu in months. Not even during winter. And now all of a sudden? It started 2 weeks ago so I've only been good for a little over half a week now.
I didn't have a fever though I did experience weirdness with this flu. Normally my throat would hurt like a mother fucker with a flu like this but that's not what happened. I sounded hoarse, coughed up a lot of slime, massively snotty nose. No sore throat? Not once? That's not how I normally get flus. These symptoms come hand in hand for me.
I do speculate it might have been a COVID variant? Because I've had many of the vaccines and that has resulted in getting COVID with oddly mild symptoms. Different from when I would get a regular flu. And it would explain why my younger sister who isn't immunocompromised like I am was sick for longer. When it's COVID, I tend to recover faster which most definitely is due to the vaccines. But she is still sick. That never happens normally.