Author: Knoor Sheikh
Lately, the soundtrack to my life has been a chorus of coughs and sneezes. At work, co-workers complained of sore throats and posted sick emojis next to their names on the Slack work platform. At home, my daughter comes home from daycare with a backpack full of construction paper crafts and a often runny nose.
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No matter how well my husband and I and she wash our hands, 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 may be getting sick more often and having colds more severe And the cough lasts longer.
In part, it’s simple math: COVID-19 is now adding to the infectious disease already spreading each virus season.said Nahid Bhadelia, a physician and founding director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Disease Policy and Research at Boston University. In addition to influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, there are more than 200 viruses that can cause cold-like symptoms.including enteroviruses, rhinoviruses, parainfluenza viruses and common cold coronaviruses, which are close relatives of the virus that causes the new coronavirus.
According to expert observations, these viruses are not becoming more serious.but One reason they may feel stronger now is that our bodies have forgotten how to fight them.Badelia said.
Immunity to many viruses that make people sick doesn’t last that long.
The precautions we took early in the pandemic to reduce the spread of COVID-19 also slowed the spread of other virusesBadelia said.
So when people stop wearing masks and start socializing more She was again exposed to multiple illnesses.
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.and Norovirus, which can cause fever and vomiting, is also making a comeback along with the common cold.
Unfortunately, Immunity to many viruses that make people sick doesn’t last longsaid Luis Ostrosky, a physician and director of infectious diseases and epidemiology at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann.this means Your body has an immune debt that needs to be repaid. “If your immunity goes back to a strain that was prevalent three or four years ago, you have to change it”Ostrowski said.
Once your body relearns how to produce antibodies to a specific virus, If you are exposed to it again, your symptoms may be milder and you may recover faster.Ostrowski said.
Coronavirus also makes us more susceptible to getting sick, experts say. Now, this seems even more important when someone comes to work or school with a dry cough. “Before COVID, you would blow your nose and complain a little, but you wouldn’t talk about it much” 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 sick longer.Debra Langlois, 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 resolve the illness is always shocking: A common cold can take up to 15 days to clear up, and in most cases a cough can take up to 25 days to clear up.
As they get older, kids are much less likely to cough in your face and better at washing their hands without protest.
Adults may also develop what doctors call a post-viral cough Other symptoms last three weeks or more after they disappear. “My own husband has had a cough for several weeks after contracting the virus.”Langlois said.
and in some cases, Secondary infections can develop in the sinuses, ears, or throat, making one disease appear to be one 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.”
Langlois said there are also measures that could curb at least some infections.Or get the RSV vaccine if eligible; make sure you’re up to date on your flu and COVID-19 vaccinations; and learn other lessons from the pandemic, such as staying home when sick and wearing a mask on airplanes.
For parents like me, whose young children carry an unimaginable variety of germs, Langlois says, there’s reason to hope we don’t continue to get sick so often: As they get older, kids are much less likely to cough in your face and better at washing their hands without protest.