2023-12-15 03:02:12
The flu, like covid, can also become a persistent illness. This is confirmed by research published in ‘The Lancet Infectious Diseases ‘ which has seen that people hospitalized due to seasonal flu can also suffer long-term negative health effects, especially on the lungs and respiratory tract.
Since the Covid19 pandemic began, the virus’s ability to attack multiple organ systems has been documented, causing long-lasting and often disabling health problems known as long Covid.
The new research, carried out in the Washington University in St. Louis (USA), has compared the viruses that cause covid-19 and the flu and has seen that in the 18 months after infection, patients hospitalized with covid-19 or seasonal flu had a higher risk of death , hospital readmission and health problems in many organs. systems. «The study illustrates the high number of deaths and health loss after hospitalization for covid-19 or seasonal flu“Says lead author Ziyad Al-Aly, Many people think they have overcome Covid-19 or the flu after being discharged from the hospital, “which may be true for some, but our research shows that both viruses can cause illness. long lasting”.
“An important lesson we learned from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, is that an infection that was initially thought to only cause a short illness can also cause chronic illness. This revelation motivated us to analyze the long-term results of covid versus flu», highlights Al-Aly.
And the answer is that both Covid-19 and the flu caused long-term health problems. “Long Covid is a much bigger health problem than Covid, just like long-term flu is a much bigger health problem than the flu,” warns Al-Aly.
However, the overall risk and occurrence of death, hospital admissions and loss of health in many organ systems are substantially higher among patients with Covid-19 than among those who have had seasonal flu, Al-Aly said. «The only notable exception is that the flu poses greater risks to the pulmonary system than covid. This tells us that the flu is a respiratory virus, as we have all thought for the last 100 years. In comparison, Covid is more aggressive and indiscriminate because it can attack the pulmonary system, but it can also attack any organ and is more likely to cause fatal or serious conditions affecting the heart, brain, kidneys and other organs.
Long Covid is a much bigger health problem than Covid, just like long flu is a health problem.
Ziyad Al-Aly
Washington University in St. Louis
Regarding both viruses, eThe vaccination status of the patients did not affect the results.
“Our findings highlight the continued need to reduce the risk of hospitalization from these two viruses as a way to alleviate the overall burden of health loss in populations,” says Al-Aly, who highlights that in the face of both viruses, “Vaccines can help prevent serious illness and reduce the risk of hospitalizations and death».
“The idea that Covid or flu are just acute diseases overlooks their broader long-term effects on human health,” warns Al-Aly.
“Before the pandemic, we tended to belittle most viral infections as inconsequential: ‘You’ll get sick and get over it in a few days.’ But we are discovering that that is not everyone’s experience. Some people end up with serious long-term health problems. We need to wake up to this reality and stop trivializing viral infections and understand that they are the main causes of chronic diseases », he concludes.
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