I catch a cold once or twice each year. This year was different as we have a son in daycare, so we've been sick about once a month. In January we all went throu

I catch a cold once or twice each year. This year was different as we have a son in daycare, so we've been sick about once a month. In January we all went through a very weird flu. Bowel issues, followed by very dry and sore throat with a mild dry cough that lasted for just under two days, followed by what felt like a normal flu for another day and then came the respiratory issues, for me. I never before in my life had considered going to the ER for a flu, but that one felt different. I had trouble taking deep breaths. The discomfort lasted for several days and I felt slightly exhausted, but still roughly 80% normal. After a couple of days of that I asked my wife if I should consult. We chose not to and I took a few days off and everything went back to normal. All in all, I must have been "sick" for about 8-9 days. (EDIT: I am male, under 30.) The symptoms as a whole didn't quite feel like a flu, we all thought they were weird, but hey who am I to know, right? Well a few weeks later we remembered that two days prior to feeling ill, we had ordered some Chinese takeout. The delivery man (not a Chinese national) looked like he was going to collapse. He had trouble getting up the stairs, had a bad cough, looked like he had a fever - god knows why he was working. After taking the food and paying, I wondered if he'd make it back down the stairs but forgot about it for a few weeks. We probably won't know if we had this bug or not, but it's definitely possible. Maybe I just happened to develop a respiratory distress caused by a bad flu right when the epidemic in China was not controlled, and not any other year prior. Who knows!