Should COVID-19 be treated like the influenza ? Or is it time we depart treat the influenza like COVID-19 ? It ’s a question considered by new research from New Zealand where scientist are suggesting that we ’ve got things the wrong agency around . Rather than downgrade the severity of COVID to that of other infectious diseases , perhaps it ’s clock time we started taking several other respiratory infections just as seriously .
COVID-19comes with a suite of symptoms that are harrowingly familiar to everyone who spent 2020 washing their hands and mentally visualizing a 2 - metre or 6 - foundation break . Some , like a continuous cough and feverishness , were , for most people , shortly - lived ; while others , like anosmia , brain fog , and chronic tiredness , endured in some people for calendar month and even years .
Long COVIDis an example of how the illnesses we contract can exchange us , and in some cases , those alteration can be permanent . COVID is n’t alone here , however . Even the common cold ( rhinovirus ) can incur complication that alter our ear , sinus , and heart wellness . harmonize to theWorld Health Organization , flu not only bring with it the risk of pneumonia , sepsis , and death , but can also make other chronic disease spoiled .
New Zealand ’s pandemic response was among the most effective in the world , and it was n’t until 2022 that the impact of the disease became seeming in the nation ’s mortality records . As COVID continues to be a meaning health threat across the world , researchers are reflect on how we can build up onpandemic preparednessin time for the next infectious disease irruption .
They are address to comprehensively mitigate the impingement of communicable respiratory infection by adopting the control condition measures for COVID-19 and applying them to other malady .
“ As COVID-19 modulation to becoming endemic , some argue that it should be treat more like other infectious disease . We propose the converse overture of treating other serious respiratory infection such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) more like COVID-19 , ” explain the author . “ This is the argument for explore an integrated respiratory contagion control strategy that builds on the cobalt - benefits and efficiencies of preclude multiple infections , along with a strong emphasis on fairness . ”
An instance of the potency of COVID-19 bar on other respiratory illnesses can be view in the style that flu dropped off during the pandemic . Strategies like allowing people with respiratory infection to self - isolate ( by act from home , for instance ) , and insure adequate ventilation and air filtration are available in indoor options could contribute towards this ( preventative measures were shown to"unequivocally " stop the spread of COVID-19 in a separate field of study ) .
Furthermore , mask - wear in high - risk environs such as hospitals , and setting where optimal ventilation system is n’t potential – such as public ecstasy – could also help .
By reducing the wallop of not just COVID-19 , but other respiratory contagion , the authors indicate we could both fix disease disperse and better absorption and productivity for hoi polloi at schoolhouse and at body of work . While the paper itself centers around the COVID-19 response in New Zealand , it ’s an idea that could have deservingness elsewhere on the planet , reckon influenza ’s wide reach .
Illness is a natural fact of life , but return that humans are live in increasingly unnatural – and often crowded – environments , cut the risk of exposure of disease infection wherever potential could put a pause on potential outbreaks . Rather than getting grim with something that ’s “ basically just flu , ” maybe it ’d be estimable to at least try and forefend bring forth ghastly at all .
The study is write in theNew Zealand Medical Journal .
