Down with fever and flu? Is it something new or remnants of Coronavirus

We all know someone who is running a viral fever, right now. Is it something new for us? Health experts deny any such theories. According to them, we have been facing these viral fever and viral pneumonias since the origin of mankind.The only thing is whenever our immune system gets exposed to these viruses it will form an immune memory about it and will reduce risk of its recurrence.

Dr. Rahul Kendre, Lung transplant Physician and Interventional Pulmonologst, DPU Private Super Specialty Hospital, Pimpri, Pune says, “Because of the mutations happening in the viruses, they transform into a new strain and can attack us again. In 95-99% of the cases these infections are not fatal but those who have underlying poor immunity may be due to elderly age, long standing Diabetes Mellitus, HIV-AIDS, chronic kidney, lung or liver disease are more at risk of developing a severe disease and pneumonia requiring admission in hospitals and ventilatory supports.”

COVID-19 and the flu (influenza) are both respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses and have some key differences:

Causative Agents

COVID-19: Caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
Flu: Caused by influenza viruses, primarily influenza A and influenza B.

COVID-19: Can cause a wide range of symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and more. Severity varies, and some cases can be asymptomatic.
Flu: Symptoms typically include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, fatigue, and sometimes nausea or vomiting.

Transmission

COVID-19: Highly contagious and primarily spreads through respiratory droplets. It can also spread via contact with contaminated surfaces.
Flu: Also spreads through respiratory droplets, similar to COVID-19.

Vaccines

COVID-19: Multiple vaccines have been developed and authorized for emergency use to prevent COVID-19.
Flu: Seasonal flu vaccines are available and recommended each year to protect against specific flu strains.

Seasonality

COVID-19: It can spread year-round but has shown seasonal variations in some regions.
Flu: Seasonal flu outbreaks are common during the fall and winter months in temperate regions.

Severity and mortality

COVID-19: Generally has a higher mortality rate than the flu, especially among older adults and individuals with underlying health conditions.
Flu: Typically has a lower overall mortality rate but can still be deadly, especially for vulnerable populations.

Long-term effects

COVID-19: Some individuals experience long-term health issues known as “long COVID,” which can include persistent symptoms even after recovery.
Flu: Long-term effects are generally less common and less severe.

The at-risk patients are expected to take annual vaccination against these common viruses, need to keep their sugar levels under control, do regular exercise, use masks in public places and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The most important viral infections these days is influenza which could affect us in the form of Swine flu (H1N1), H3N2, H5N1 etc. variants and the vaccines are available against these influenza viruses and are supposed to be taken once every year by vulnerable populations.
So now you must be wondering how severe these influenza virus infections could be or are they something like Covid virus infection which we have barely come out of.