What will you do if you come down with a fever, rash, red eyes, muscle and joint pain? Some of us may just take some paracetamol assuming we have contracted seasonal flu, or have a rest.
It is unlikely most of us will rush to a doctor to find out if we have contracted the mosquito-borne Zika virus, let alone be aware the two viruses share common symptoms.
In revealing 20 new cases of people who had contracted Zika in just a week, permanent secretary for public health Sopon Mekthon assured us on Monday that we should not panic or be "too concerned" about the number. The situation remains under control, he said.
It is not the first time the ministry has played down potential threats and possible widespread transmission of this virus. It is a reminder to many of us how our governments and health authorities dealt with other disease outbreaks in the past, including bird flu. Their acknowledgment and announcement of those diseases were too little, too late.
Surasak Glahan is deputy oped pages editor, Bangkok Post.
The ministry insisted the new patients, found in Chiang Mai, Phetchabun, Bung Kan and Chanthaburi last week, have been under close watch. Two of them are pregnant women.
In Thailand, there are no cases of pregnant women infected with the virus giving birth to babies with small heads, or microcephaly, and other brain defects, as reported in Brazil. Not yet. Symptoms of the disease are mild and short-lived. These could be the reasons why the level of awareness and alert are not high. They, however, should not translate into "business as usual".
It is true that unnecessary public panic should not be triggered without valid reasons. But wouldn't it be better if we are not told the situation is under control and we should not be too concerned? We should be concerned if we are pregnant women or our family members are planning to have a baby. Fixing the problem then will become more costly than preventing it from erupting or spreading.
Little is known about the virus. Globally, scientists admit there are still gaps in their knowledge and understanding. In addition to microcephaly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says the virus has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome which can be fatal. There is an ongoing investigation to find out whether Zika is linked to a number of neurological disorders.
This week, a study by the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis revealed that human eyes can be a "reservoir" of the virus which means patients could spread the disease through their tears. The finding means we cannot afford to be complacent about the transmission modes and the potential danger it could bring to humans. In addition to mosquito bites, the disease can be transmitted through sexual intercourse.
The first confirmed case of Zika in Thailand was in 2012. This year there have been more than 100 reported cases.
Even the Public Health Ministry's Bureau of Epidemiology admitted the Zika virus infection has been under-diagnosed in Thailand. It suggested that testing for the virus should be given for those found to have both fever and rashes. Meanwhile, patients can still be misdiagnosed with having dengue fever.
Increasing outbreaks of the virus have prompted travel advisories for visits across Asia and elsewhere. The United States has issued a travel warning for Singapore where there have been more than 250 cases found recently. Britain advises its citizens that Thailand is high-risk.
The WHO warned women living in Zika-active areas in other countries should consider delaying their pregnancies. Widespread warnings for pregnant women or those planning to have a baby should have also taken place here in Thailand.
Although some quarters of the international health community still question whether it is too early to link microcephaly cases in Brazil to the virus, as there are no other cases reported in other countries, this does not give us a reason to be complacent.
Moe Ko Oo, head of the self-organised Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network, told me yesterday that the level of public alert and awareness in Thailand and its Mekong neighbours is not high due to the fact that the most dire consequences affect people in a minority -- pregnant women. If something doesn't pose a direct threat, we seem to be less worried, he said.
So far, his network, which works with health authorities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and China, has been informed of a few cases each in Cambodia and Vietnam. There have been no reports of cases in Laos and Myanmar, he said.
He suggested that Thailand and its neighbours should take this Zika outbreak as the opportunity to root out dengue fever because both share the same vector.
"It's better to eradicate mosquito-borne places, so that we can eradicate both dengue fever and the Zika virus," he said.
His recommendation is timely given that more than 18,000 dengue fever cases were reported during the first six months of this year in Thailand, of whom 16 have died. The number dropped from last year by only 14%.
When bitten by mosquitoes, I believe many of us just get annoyed. Given the recent dengue fever and Zika virus infections, we should realise that mosquito bites are not just a daily nuisance, but can also be a personal health threat.