- Sarah Pitt
- The Conversation*
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Photo credit, Getty Images
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Due to the type of symptoms, we can confuse covid-19 with the flu.
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Since the symptoms of Covid-19 – fever, cough, body aches – akin to flu symptoms, it’s tempting to compare the two.
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In fact, the new UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid recently said: “We will have to learn to accept the existence of covid-19 and find ways to deal with it, just like we already do with the flu. . “
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But have we chosen the wrong disease to compare to covid-19?
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Read also on the Covid:
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Outside of a pandemic, we accept that seasonal flu is an infection that anyone can get.
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Deaths from influenza-related illnesses around the world are typically around 400,000 per year.
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Differences
While we must find a way to live with covid-19, the numbers suggest that we are still a long way from being able to treat it the same way as the flu.
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There have been more than 180 million cases worldwide since the start of 2020, and at least 4 million people have died from the disease.
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Photo credit, Getty Images
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Measures to control Covid have helped reduce flu cases significantly
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On top of that, we’re still not sure what the real effect of COVID-19 is in the long term, but symptoms of long-term Covid are common, with one in 10 still suffering from the disease, 12 weeks after infection. .
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Currently, the health effect of covid-19 in the population is much greater than that of influenza.
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We also know that covid-19 is more contagious. We can be sure of this because over the past 18 months disease control measures have reduced flu cases to almost zero, but obviously they haven’t been as effective in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
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Flu cases were close to zero during the winter in the southern hemisphere in mid-2020 and again in Europe and North America between November 2020 and March 2021.
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Even in countries with high levels of covid-19, like South Africa and the UK, in winter there were hardly any cases of the flu.
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All of this suggests that using methods commonly used to fight the flu will have a rather different effect on COVID-19.
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Treating it like the flu will lead to many more cases and deaths, and much more persistent illness than that seen in a typical flu season.
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Another comparison
Of course, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19, shares some characteristics with influenza viruses, making it tempting to compare them.
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Photo credit, Getty Images
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Covid -19 is a disease more contagious than the flu
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About 20% of people have no symptoms when infected with SARS-CoV-2, and many people infected with the influenza virus do not get sick either.
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Both viruses are subject to many mutations.
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And with both diseases, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of serious illness than healthy young adults, and infections spread quickly in nursing homes, hospital wards and schools. .
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But many of these traits are also shared by another germ: norovirus. It can also be asymptomatic in some people and mutate quickly: different strains of norovirus have been found circulating in the same hospital for a season.
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In fact, as it spreads, norovirus sometimes changes so much that standard tests cannot recognize which versions have evolved.
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Most people with symptomatic norovirus infections have diarrhea, but some also experience severe vomiting (which is expelled like a projectile).
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This creates a virus-filled beam that spreads throughout any room and leaves it on surfaces, waiting for others to pick it up, as with respiratory viruses.
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Covid-19 also causes diarrhea in some patients. The flu is not the only viral illness that COVID-19 can be compared to.
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Compare to better plan
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Likewise, there are many differences between SARS-CoV-2 and norovirus, so why try to make a comparison?
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Photo credit, Getty Images
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Norovirus causes intense vomiting
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Well, as vaccines and other measures bring the virus under control, more countries around the world will join others where restrictions have been lifted, social distancing rules have been relaxed and mask wearing not. obligatory.
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But we should always expect covid-19 outbreaks in the years to come, and we must have plans to deal with them as they arise.
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Knowing what we know about these viruses, these plans should consider further controlling SARS-CoV-2, as we control noroviruses rather than influenza.
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With norovirus, we keep infected people away from others. We ask parents whose children are showing symptoms not to bring them to school. And in hospitals and nursing homes, patients with norovirus are treated separately from others, staff wear PPE to protect themselves, and surfaces are thoroughly cleaned.
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The management of covid-19 in the future should be interventionist in this sense. It should be more like living with a norovirus than the flu.
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Maintain habits
In the meantime, we have developed some good hygiene habits during the pandemic, such as washing hands a little more often and better ventilating buildings.
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Photo credit, Getty Images
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The pandemic has taught us to maintain effective hygiene practices
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Those who can use a mask should keep thinking about putting it on in confined spaces and on public transport.
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These simple steps should help stop the spread of many viral diseases, whether it’s influenza, norovirus or Covid-19, before larger interventions are needed.
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* This article originally appeared on The Conversation.
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* Sarah Pitt is Professor of Microbiology and Biome Science Practice at ICAS at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at Brigthon University, UK.
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