December has been party season across the globe not only for humans but for influenza, metapneumovirus, RSV and all manner of other bugs that spread through coughs, sneezes and splutters.
As Covid-19 continues to circulate, many countries are also recording rising rates of flu-like illnesses, respiratory conditions and the common cold – and cases of strep, tonsillitis and upper respiratory infections above the seasonal average.
“Another dangerous thing is that flu, in particular, predisposes to secondary bacterial infections,” Dr Antonia Ho, a consultant in infectious diseases and clinical senior lecturer at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, told the UK’s Guardian website.
The likelihood of viral co-infections may be greater this winter, because various respiratory viruses appear to be peaking at the same time, rather than sequentially as happened pre-Covid-19 pandemic.
Two years of barely being exposed to such bugs appears to have disrupted their usual patterns, its science correspondent Linda Geddes reported.
“Now that people are mixing more, wearing masks less and paying less attention to ventilation and vigilant hand hygiene, opportunities for these susceptible individuals to be infected – and to pass these infections on – are great,” she added.
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