Has COVID made us more susceptible to other illnesses?
Even if you don’t develop COVID, the virus may affect your health.
Doctors and labs report that the coronavirus and our strategies to avoid it have made other viruses, such as rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, and influenza act in unfamiliar ways, according to a report in The Washington Post. For example, doctors said they saw a surge in late spring of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which usually affects children under 5 in midwinter. Flu, which usually slows in March and April, resurfaced in late spring in some areas. And even colds appear to be worse, an expert at Yale School of Medicine told the Post.
It’s not yet clear if the fault lies with the coronavirus’s ability to interfere with other viruses or with our decreased immunity that comes after two years of isolation and masking, according to the article. A 2021 report by the Centers for Disease Control predicted that the circulation of respiratory viruses would be affected by variations in pandemic mitigation measures, like masking, and people’s immunity to viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Paul Dolinksky, MD, FACP, an internist with Fontaine Primary Care in Harwich says that while he hasn’t noticed direct effects of coronavirus on patients’ immunity or on other illnesses yet, it’s no time to drop your guard. Wear your mask in public. Wash your hands properly. Get a COVID booster – or two if you qualify. Get a flu shot.
“COVID is not gone,” he said.
When patients complain of fever, congestion, sore throat and any flu- or COVID-like symptoms, they are tested for COVID, as well as other viruses, including influenza A and B, he said. Even if the COVID test is negative, doctors may find other viruses in a patient’s system.
Thanks to masking and social distancing, there was a steep decline in flu cases during the pandemic. From September 2020 to May 2021 in the United States, 0.2 percent of 818,939 respiratory specimens tested by U.S. clinical laboratories were positive for an influenza virus, according to CDC tracking. That compares to more than 15 percent of 1,145,555 specimens being positive during the 2018-19 flu season.
But the unknown of what this year will bring is one more reason to get a flu shot, he advised. The best time to get a flu shot is in the fall, so it will carry you through the worst of winter. The flu shot at any time is better than none since the vaccine has other benefits as well, he said.
“A lot of people decline it saying, ‘well, I don’t get sick,’” he said. “But there’s additional benefit to getting a flu shot in that it also reduces cardiovascular risks. I think a lot of people don’t appreciate that.”
Flu vaccine was particularly effective in preventing cardiovascular events among high-risk patients, according to an analysis by worldwide researchers published in 2013 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“It lowers the risk of heart attack. We don’t know why but there’s definitely cardiac benefits from getting a flu shot,” Dr. Dolinsky said.
And the most important thing to remember is that COVID is, as Dr. Dolinsky said, “a pretty tough contender.”
“It’s as contagious, if not more so, than it’s been in the past,” he said. “And we don’t know about its virulence in future mutations. I think we are all weary of the social isolation, but it’s important to at least take precautions.
“COVID is not done with us yet.”
