When cold and flu season rolls around, parents spend anxious moments trying to decipher symptoms and decide whether — or when —to take a sick kid to the doctor. Such decisions are particularly tricky this winter. The 2012-13 season is a heavy one for influenza. Other illnesses, from strep throat to colds and norovirus, are adding to the misery.

"It's a scary flu season," said Dr. Jessica Snowden, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Children's Hospital & Medical Center.

The best advice, experts say, is to take a child to the doctor if he shows flu symptoms.

With influenza, the earlier the diagnosis, the better. Doctors can start antiviral drugs that lessen the illness's duration, said Dr. Jennifer Jenson, a pediatrician with Alegent Creighton Clinic in Council Bluffs.

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