A lack of exposure to common viruses during the Covid pandemic could be behind the “never-ending” colds being seen, say experts.
A wet start to winter, resulting in people socialising indoors, a rise in Covid cases and children returning to school after the Christmas holidays, allowing viruses to spread more easily, could also be behind illnesses lasting longer than usual.
Jeremy Brown, a professor of respiratory infection at University College London (UCL), said there’s no clear data on whether any long-lasting viruses are currently circulating, as very little information is collected about the duration of infectious symptoms.
He said some people’s symptoms could be caused by Covid, which is “pretty indistinguishable from other respiratory viruses. It can make people feel pretty rotten – more so than standard cold viruses, but perhaps no more so than flu”.
But he continued to The Independent: “There’s been what seems like a bounce-back with frequency of infection with some respiratory viruses, although it’s always hard to be sure, as their incidence varies year to year anyway.
“This is not Covid impairing immunity, but lack of exposure to respiratory viruses weakening adaptive immunity to the viruses, so they can more readily infect when they’re circulating.”
Some people have also been reporting having a long-lasting cough, which could be caused by whooping cough, also known as the ‘100 day cough’, as cases have been on the rise.
Prof Brown explained: “Hundred-day cough is classic whooping cough – it’s exactly as it says, a dry cough that goes on for three months, but not really with sore throat, runny nose etc, just a cough.”
There are three main viruses currently going around Britain at the moment that could be causing people’s persistent symptoms.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) keeps track of viral prevalence through the Respiratory DataMart System, which collects the results of swab tests from laboratories around the UK.
He told The Telegraph the data shows respiratory infections have been steadily rising since the summer in all age groups, but particularly among those aged between five and 14 who then may transmit these infections to other family members.
This seems to be a consequence of three main viruses, said Prof Hunter – flu, the JN.1 Covid variant and rhinovirus, which causes the common cold.
He said: “Flu rates are particularly on the rise in recent weeks. I think there’s a lot more pressure on the health service from flu at the moment than from Covid.”
So how do you know which virus you have? Prof Hunter outlined what to look out for.
