Long Covid has brought the long-term consequences of infectious diseases back into the medical limelight. But what about other acute respiratory infections? Read more here.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term consequences of infectious diseases have become the focus of society and research. But the phenomenon is not new and can be generalized to other infectious diseases. Researchers have therefore looked into the long-term consequences of acute respiratory infections (ARI). The results were published in The Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine.
When you think of acute respiratory infections, you are bound to think of one or two persistent and annoying symptoms – but you’d also think that the whole thing usually fades away in a few days or perhaps weeks. But this is often not the case. Scientists have studied the concept of long colds and concluded that acute respiratory infections can have long-term health effects on patients. The acute respiratory infections studied included simple colds, but also more complex and severe illnesses such as influenza or pneumonia.
The study included 10,171 participants (1,311 [12.9 %] with SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 472 [4.6 %] with non-COVID-19 acute respiratory infections). 16 potential Long Covid symptoms and symptoms of health-related quality of life were analyzed. The researchers concluded that “both SARS-CoV-2 and non-COVID-19 ARIs are associated with a wide range of symptoms more than four weeks after the acute infection. Research on post-acute sequelae of ARIs should extend from SARS-CoV-2 to include other pathogens”.
However, the fact that acute respiratory infections – and not just Covid – can have long-term consequences isn’t a novel one. Dr David Strain, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant, University of Exeter, said: “This is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918–20 left many individuals with Encephalitis lethargica that took decades to resolve. The concept of post-viral illness is also well established.” Around 280,000 people in the UK live with chronic fatigue syndrome, “many of whom report a rather benign initial viral illness as the trigger”, says Strain.
“Some of the most common symptoms of long cold included coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhea more than four weeks after the initial infection,” said the study authors in a press release. Nevertheless, this study is in no way intended to undermine the major health effects of Long Covid on those affected. On the contrary: although the study confirms earlier assumptions that there are generally long-term symptoms after respiratory infections, COVID-19 was still associated with more severe symptoms.
The researchers believe that – in addition to the Long Covid cases – many cases of other long-term consequences of acute respiratory infections such as colds, influenza, or pneumonia, are often overlooked. “While Long Covid is now a recognized condition, there have been few studies comparing long-term symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection vs. other respiratory infections,” said the study authors. “While the severity of an illness appears to be a key driver of risk of long-term symptoms, more research is being carried out to establish why some people suffer extended symptoms while others do not.”
Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine, Imperial College London, cautioned to take ARI seriously, even if they are not caused by Covid: “The study is important in showing that recovery from ARI may be slow regardless of cause, that people should expect a slow return to normality and not expect to immediately return to full activities immediately after an ARI from whatever cause.”
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