Lately, the soundtrack to my life has been a chorus of coughs and sneezes. At work, co-workers complained of sore throats, and on the work platform Slack they put sick emojis next to their names. At home, my daughter comes home from daycare with a backpack full of construction paper crafts and a often runny nose.
No matter how well my husband and I wash our hands—and hers—germs are inevitably transmitted to our baby, and then to us. Sometimes it seems like we barely get a break before another illness strikes.
Whether you have kids or not, this time of year can feel like you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle. Especially since the pandemic, you and your family seem to be getting sick more often, colds are worse, and coughs last longer.
In part, it’s simple math: Nahid Bhadelia, a physician and founding director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research at Boston University, says the coronavirus is now increasing every Virus season has spread infectious diseases. In addition to influenza and RSV, there are more than 200 viruses that cause cold-like symptoms, including enteroviruses, rhinoviruses, parainfluenza viruses and common cold coronaviruses, which are close relatives of the virus that causes COVID-19. According to expert observations, these viruses are not becoming more serious. But Badria says one reason they may be felt more intensely now is that our bodies have forgotten how to fight them.
Badria said the precautions we took early in the pandemic to reduce the spread of COVID-19 also slowed the spread of these other viruses.
So when people stop wearing masks and start socializing more, they are exposed to all kinds of diseases again. In 2022, cases of influenza, RSV and Covid increased simultaneously, creating a triple epidemic. In early 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that cases of strep throat, or tonsillitis, were on the rise. Norovirus, which can cause fever and vomiting, is also making a comeback along with the common cold.
Luis Ostrosky, a physician and chief of infectious diseases and epidemiology at The University of Texas Health at Houston and Memorial Hermann Hospital, said that immunity to many of the viruses that make people sick is, unfortunately, The force doesn’t last that long.
This means your body needs to make up for some kind of immune debt. “If your immunity reverts to a strain that was circulating three or four years ago, you have to replenish it,” Ostrowski said.
Once your body relearns how to produce antibodies to a specific virus, you may have milder symptoms and recover faster if you are exposed to the virus again, Ostrowski said.
Experts say the coronavirus has also made us more sensitive to when we get sick. Now, this seems even more important when someone comes to work or school with a dry cough. “Before COVID-19, you would blow your nose and complain, but you wouldn’t talk about it very often,” said William Schaffner, a physician and professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Paying more attention to respiratory symptoms may also make us feel sicker for longer, said Debra Langluis, a pediatrician at Mott Children’s Hospital at University of Michigan Health. But a 2013 literature review of common respiratory infections in children found that the time it takes to cure an illness is always shocking: A common cold can take 15 days to clear, and most cases take 25 days to clear up. . Cough and walk away.
Adults may also develop what doctors call a post-viral cough, which lasts three weeks or longer after other symptoms have gone away.
In some cases, secondary infections may develop in the sinuses, ears, or throat, making one disease appear to be intertwined with another. “It’s really unpleasant to be sick again and again,” Langlois said. “But what really reassures us as doctors is that even if you don’t get sick for a day or two or a week, that means it’s a separate virus.”
There are also steps to curb at least some infections, Langlois said, such as getting the RSV vaccine if you’re eligible; making sure you’re up to date on your flu and COVID-19 vaccinations; and learning other lessons from the pandemic, like getting sick Wear a mask at home and on airplanes.
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