More sensitive or more alert?: Why everyone seems to have a cold | Health and wellness

Many conversations these days in Spain revolve around a family member, friend, or coworker who has a stuffy nose, cough, cold, or all of these symptoms at the same time. The impression come winter is that everyone ends up getting satisfactory returns every year, on schedule like clockwork, for simple seasonal reasons. With the cold and lack of ventilation in enclosed spaces, viruses like influenza and Covid find the ideal conditions for their spread. The feeling of being trapped in an endless spiral of infection has been reinforced during this time of year after the pandemic, when masks and social distancing have done their job of protecting the population from the flu. But is it true that colds strike us harder and more frequently than before?

“It is normal for cases to increase on these dates, and to continue to increase. “In health centers these days, many patients come for consultation about colds and respiratory infections, although in most cases they are not serious conditions,” explains Dr. Leovigildo Genel, Secretary of the Respiratory Diseases Working Group of the Association. Spanish Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN). The doctor highlights that it is normal after the pandemic winters – when influenza, colds and colds practically disappeared in favor of Covid-19 – for the immune system to get used to the coexistence of more viruses.

according to Data from Carlos III Health Institute, The rate of acute respiratory infections in week 49 of 2023, Constitution Bridge rate, hospitalizations for influenza and COVID-19 are increasing, while downward fluctuations are observed in patients hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus (VRS) infection. But so far, the cases do not exceed those of last winter, although experts prefer to remain cautious, considering that the infection season has just begun, and it will be in January and February when it reaches its peak.

As far as experts know, respiratory viruses have not become more aggressive in recent years. Epidemiologist at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, ​​Toni Trella, finds a plausible reason for so-called “immune debt.” “Since we were not exposed to other pathogens during the coronavirus period, now that they are back in circulation, they will likely hit us harder, because we have lost training,” he points out. This, combined with the fact that containment measures such as masks and social distancing are no longer adopted, means that the population has once again been exposed to viruses to which they are no longer accustomed.

Magda Campins, head of the center’s department of preventive medicine, agrees: “When a virus spreads, as was the case with SARS-CoV-2, it is natural for others to stop doing so. This is called ecological competition.” Val de Hebron Hospital. Taking into account that in a normal flu season, 25% of the population is infected with influenza, the epidemiologist estimates that in the next two or three years, the population will regain the levels of immunity that existed before the epidemic. “This calculation clearly does not apply to very young children, who do not reach the levels of acquired immunity that adults have until the age of six,” he adds.

Immunity, whether natural that arises after passing the disease or that resulting from a vaccine, is time-limited, because viruses mutate frequently. “It is possible that someone who was exposed to the virus circulating this year will not be protected next year. “That is why vaccination is never too often, even for young people with no previous illnesses,” Campins insists. More than 1.7 million have received people, that is, 60% of the population over 80 years of age, received the vaccine adapted to the subvariants of Covid-19 this season, according to data from the Ministry of Health.Although the big news is the first vaccination campaign for children against the RSV virus, it causes the vast majority bronchiolitis in infants, resulting in 1 in 56 affected children being hospitalized.

More viruses in circulation

One thing that has certainly changed is the viral cycle landscape, which has become more complex since the arrival of the coronavirus. “We will never have a situation exactly the same as we had before Covid,” admits Amparo Larori, head of the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Surveillance Group at the National Center of Epidemiology of the Carlos III Health Institute. “SARS-CoV-2 is another factor that is here to stay, competing with the spread of other viruses at this time of year.” Larori explains that in the last two seasons, during the months of October to December, influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 and RSV, have been circulating at the same time, which may lead to the perception of a greater number of respiratory operations in the population.

Paying more attention to respiratory symptoms will also be a key factor in enhancing this sensation. Experts confirm that after the epidemic, when a simple cough was more than enough to raise all alarms, the population became more aware of the risks of infection. “We are all more sensitive. We notice the symptoms, and if we get coronavirus, we worry about not visiting our grandparents,” says Salvador Peru, area director for health services research at Vesabio.

Julian Dominguez, head of the Preventive Medicine Service at Ceuta Hospital, admits that every time there is a new epidemic wave, we start from a very small number of common cases, and once the number starts to grow, the subjective feeling that everything in the world is sick sets in. “When two or three infected patients coincide at the same time in a hospital ward, the comment is that there are too many infected people, even though in reality the data in the previous or following weeks is completely normal,” he points out.

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