Why so many colds and nasopharyngitis?

Respiratory diseases are making a comeback. Blame it on the relaxation of barrier gestures. In times of Covid, these benign conditions represent a significant additional work for general practitioners.

By dint of living masked, 1 meter 50 from each other, sometimes confined, we had almost forgotten these respiratory ailments which every year, in the fall, come back to run or block the nose, irritate the throat, hoarse voice and sometimes raise the temperature.

The wave of nasopharyngitis that we have known for two weeks seems all the more important since last year, respiratory ailments were very rare. Last fall, the second wave of the Covid forced us to close schools, offices and businesses, cutting off any possibility for viruses to circulate.

Our immune system is operational

The idea that the current “epidemic” would be caused by a failure of our immune system very little exposed to seasonal viruses last year thanks to barrier gestures and confinement is often mentioned.

Wrongly according to Nathalie Jacobs, professor of virology and immunology at ULiège: “It would have taken much longer to be confined for our immune system to forget that it had previously been in contact with these seasonal viruses. If one of these is currently recirculating, this should rather be attributed to the relaxation of the barrier gestures.s. In the long term, we could have this effect in children whose immune system has not been trained for a while, but not in adults who have been confronted with these viruses for several years.»

Data is not yet available to indicate that the viruses circulating now are more numerous or more virulent than in other years. “The protective measures applied for months have allowed a reduction in respiratory infections, with a relaxation of barrier gestures, we return to “normal” for fall infections ”, explains the professor of virology.

The general relaxation of respect for barrier gestures worries Dr Dominique Henrion, who coordinates the testing centers in Jambes and Belgrade (Namur): “Chis upsurge in respiratory ailments should put us in our ears: if the Covid wants to ebb, it will have free rein since we no longer put barriers to the virus ”.

Covid or not Covid?

The virus that is currently circulating has nothing to do with that of Covid but since the symptoms are similar, it causes an overload of work for general practitioners.

Phone calls from patients wondering whether or not they should be tested are increasing. To do a PCR test, you have to go through your attending physician so that the one activates a code that will allow the patient to make an appointment in a screening center and to benefit from the reimbursement.

“We have become a call center!”

«This represents a terrible work overload …, confirms Dr Yvonne Bronckart, who chairs the Liège group of associations and general practitioners (Glamo). We also receive a lot of calls from people who want information about the 3rd dose of the vaccine. In general medicine, we have become a call center! ”

Dr Thierry Van der Schueren, coordinator at the Scientific Society of General Medicine (SSMG), also notes an increase in work in his practice but puts it into perspective. “Despite the vaccination, there is still a lot of work for the first line. As the symptoms of seasonal respiratory illnesses are similar to those of Covid, we actually have to have more consultations and carry out more tests. But we are far from the disaster of last year because there are far fewer hospitalizations that degenerate. And then, we are prowled to all this dynamic ”.

Rapid antigenic tests and PCR tests carried out in the office are not without risk for treating physicians, recalls Dr Dominique Henrion: “because most of them were vaccinated more than six months ago, their antibody level has probably decreased and because we are not a candidate for a 3rd dose ”.