In 2022, viruses went… well, viral.
After nearly three years of SARS-CoV-2 wreaking havoc around the world, the troublesome new coronavirus is now being displaced by outbreaks of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus, rhinovirus, and more.
The global HIV/AIDS epidemic, one of the worst in human history, is still with us, but it seems to have been quietly forgotten. Polio, which was on the verge of eradication, has made a comeback, including in New York. Ebola reared its ugly head again, including recently in Uganda. Mpox spread in strange new ways. Measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases are making a comeback.
For a long time, we didn’t take viruses (and other pathogens that cause infectious disease outbreaks) so seriously. In fact, one of the most infamous and quoted statements in biomedicine is that “it is time to close the book on infectious diseases and declare the war against pestilence won.” But while the line itself is actually an urban legend (the man it was widely credited to, former American surgeon general Dr. William H. Stewart, never said it), the overconfident sentiment behind it is too real and too common.
However, COVID-19 has been humbling. It has challenged many of our assumptions about viral diseases. That a coronavirus, a type of virus that often causes colds, could kill millions (6.7 million deaths worldwide, according to official figures) was unexpected. That the virus could leave countless more with potentially permanent sequelae in the form of prolonged COVID, even more.
The mitigation measures that were taken, at least in the early days of the pandemic, such as lockdowns, working from home, and wearing masks, also created an unprecedented living laboratory that produced some eye-opening findings. By dramatically reducing social interaction, we nearly eliminated influenza and other respiratory illnesses in 2020 and 2021. But they’re back with a bang in 2022.
Some have interpreted this to mean that getting infected with viruses is actually well for us, because it strengthens the immune system. This is one of many ideas that have fallen under the overly broad and unscientific umbrella term of “immunity debt.” But this thought is wrong. There is no evidence of such a “debt” that must be paid.
The lesson is that we should not see infections as inevitable. We have tools to prevent them, from masking to vaccination, and we don’t use them effectively. At the very least, we can reduce the damage by not allowing viruses to run wild.
However, flu vaccination rates are low, even for people most at risk, such as the elderly and young children. COVID-19 booster consumption has been mediocre.
The current “triple epidemic” that is hitting children and filling children’s hospitals is also a reminder that no disease exists in isolation.
If anything, COVID-19 infections may have caused immune dysregulation that makes people (especially children) more susceptible to other infections.
But even in the best of cases, we know that viruses interfere with the immune system, making it easy for secondary infections to develop. After all, pathogens interact with each other in strange ways.
This may explain why Canadians are seeing not only surges in strep A (a bacterial infection that is usually mild), but also rare invasive cases that prove fatal. The same is the case with outbreaks of scarlet fever (also caused by strep A) and chickenpox that we have seen in some countries.
Unfortunately, we can expect what is happening to children to happen among the elderly, another high-risk group. We are already seeing outbreaks of influenza, RSV, and strep A in nursing homes, which have already been devastated by the pandemic.
Somehow, these most recent viral challenges have distracted us from the main event: COVID-19. While we are largely back to “pre-pandemic” normalcy this year, this has been the deadliest year yet for COVID-19; in 2022, Canada will pass 17,000 deaths, more than the 14,642 deaths we recorded in 2020 or 16,489 in 2021. A fifth wave of Omicron is just beginning.
We do not yet know if SARS-CoV-2 will continue to mutate. We don’t know if it will become seasonal, like most respiratory viruses. And we definitely don’t yet have an idea of what it will mean if we suffer repeated infections of COVID-19, but it certainly won’t be good news.
Viruses are ubiquitous and will continue to pose new threats. We cannot live a virus-free existence, nor can we place our children and seniors in a protective bubble.
But we also can’t hang them out to dry in a viral shooting range, without any protection. We need to use the mitigation tools we have while developing new ones. That is what “living with COVID” must really mean, moving into a new year.
Source: news.google.com