Something strange is going on… winter bugs

[Hazless]

Is it just me or is something strange going on? Nearly everyone I know is sick. Levels are off the chart. My son had 10 in his class last Friday.

I’ve just had a really awful respiratory thing. It started with an awful sudden sore throat (not the usual place, lower down) then progressed to fevers for 3 days (I never get a fever, I’m an adult and can’t recall the last time), pain all over, chills, body tingles, the worst headache of my life that two types of painkiller didn’t touch.

Day 5, Now I’m left with a lingering cough and snotty nose and everything smells and tastes disgusting. Even air from outside stinks like the inside of my rotting nose! It’s gross. I’ve lost weight because everything tastes so disgusting. I look awful… grey skin and dark Circles. All my kids are poorly too but seem not as bad as me.

i also felt extremely delirious and depressed during this bug. I’ve never felt so down. It was like something switched in my brain. It was very sudden and hit me like a train. I’ve not had that before.

not covid as both tests I took negative.

im not one for conspiracy theories but is something going on? Is there a new strain of covid? I’ve never had a bug like this before. And I’ve never known so many people sick at one time. What on earth is going on? It can’t just be from lock downs many months ago.

Before Covid we had many respiratory viruses that came and went. Some severe, some not. And yes a whole class at school could be affected. It's a bit hard to get a handle on because we've been worried about Covid 19 for a while, but it's not the only coronavirus. It's not the only rhinovirus. I'd say just try to keep well. Learn from the Covid experience, wash hands keep isolated, wear masks.

There's a real lot of severe viruses out there.

After 2 years of masks and limited mixing, this is the first year that we have lived amongst each either as ‘normal’. Our immune systems aren’t great and there’s a lot going around so I would say people are more susceptible than they have been.

I truly think that the covid jabs have messed with people’s immune systems. That, and minimal exposure to the usual winter viruses in the past few years. Many of my friends who are fully jabbed have been extremely poorly recently. I’ve had no covid jabs and all I’ve had is a minor bout of covid a few weeks ago which was nothing more than a low level cold.

your T cells die all the time. After an infection the (virus specific)T cells which have expanded to fight the virus contract (due) leaving a much smaller pool of circulating memory T cells.

Caveat not a scientist so my understanding is extremely weak but I thought some scientists are saying they finding the new naive T cells count is staying lower longer than usual?

Blimey @CaptainBarbosa that was v lax of you from the point of view of the risks to the service users.. most employers were all over that!

Tis a mystery

What is your evidence for this other than thinking it?

In my house, the kids who haven't been covid vaxed have had every virus around this half term. I have had one. DH has had none. We have both been vaxed and had Covid twice and once respectively.

So, I could say the opposite but it would be based on a sample of four people, so I won't.

Yanbu. I am seeing the same here too. Clearly people are far more ill this winter than usual in my area.

You can start to understand why if you consider the situation with Strep A. Now that goes round here every year. It isn’t usually a big deal, most people don’t catch it, or they shake it off, and the few cases that do progress to scarlet fever / tonsillitis are easily dealt with by antibiotics. But now suddenly loads of children have scarlet fever and are very ill. So either the disease is worse than it used to be, or our immune systems are worse than they used to be.

I think our immune systems are worse. Some will say it’s because they weren’t exposed to many germs in the pandemic, but I disagree, my various vaccines provided a lot of immune system challenge, and we also got various other bugs from school. I think that when I had covid, my immune system was damaged and has not yet recovered. In the meantime, I am more vulnerable to other diseases. It’s like measles, which has the same effect: if you get measles you lose immunity to other diseases and have to build it again from the beginning.

So basically I think people who have had covid are now getting ill more easily and more seriously than they did before covid.

I may of course be wrong, but this is my current theory.

All you can really do in this situation is get a vaccine to challenge your immune system in a safe way and increase T-cells.

I have been ill for 3 weeks, started as a sore throat, then sore /chesty cough and snotty, I have absolutely no sense of smell or taste. It's ruined Christmas dinner, I can't taste a thing, even strong coffee, garlic, stilton....absolutely nothing. I can't smell deodorant or perfume.

I've had colds/ bad flu before but not covid. Tested 3 times in past week all negative.

It is very strange, so many people I know have had this now. It's like it's a mutated covid strain that the lateral flows aren't picking up or something.

I have felt much worse with flu a few years ago. But never lost my sense of taste or smell before, it's very odd. Cough is lingering too.

There's nothing strange happening. We were completely locked down for the spring and winter of 2020 (Spring is also a time of high virus transmission). In 2021, whilst we didn't have a proper lockdown, there was certainly less gathering/travelling etc due to anxiety around COVID and particularly omicron.

So, there have been only relatively low levels of virus transmission for the last two winters and Springtime too.

Add to that the possible effect of COVID on the immune system and everything has gone haywire this year - we have three years worth of viruses and Strep A (2020, 2021 and this year) as well as the fact that a lot of people may be immunosuppressed due to having had COVID at some point in the last two years potentially making it worse.

I work in a hospital. We have scores of people testing positive for flu, paraflu, adenoviruses, RSV and HMPV (human metopneumovirus). These are all making people sick (not ITU dying sick like COVID did, but coughing/vomiting/feeling like s and getting secondary bacterial infections such as pneumonia and sinusitis S) and are appearing a lot more than COVID - although COVID hasn't gone away. Next winter should be better

Very much in agreement with this. Few of us are scientists with experience and in depth knowledge of viral infections but people are insistent on relating their very small anecdotal experience and then presenting it like it’s some kind of irrefutable scientific fact.

"It's like it's a mutated covid strain that the lateral flows aren't picking up or something."

There currently are multiple new variants of concern that aren't identified by rapid tests. Antivirals aren't effective on them, either.

I hope you feel better soon. The plus side of losing taste and smell is that there's no temptation to overeat 😉

Just because we've had a couple of years where colds and flu have been relatively quiet doesn't mean this is unusual. We were all hiding away from these illnesses for 18 months and it's no wonder our immune systems are a bit rubbish!

But yes, a conspiracy theory is clearly much more realistic than common sense 🙄

It's not really "strange"...it's how nature works.

In winter, especially this winter, we are more likely to get a virus as we are indoors socialising and viruses live longer in the cold. Plus after 2 years of not mixing and getting bugs, our immune systems are down. It's science.

I had the flu jab and the covid jab as i work in healthcare. So glad I did, i work in A and E, mixing with the flu afflicted, and so far, touch wood, my cold/ bronchitis, wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I'm quadruple jabbed and I haven't dropped dead... yet

People without jabs drop dead as well .. wonder what they die of?

This is utter nonsense

Well, I’ve had no covid jabs and I am sick as a dog with a horrible virus at the moment.

I took my DS to the doctors a few weeks back as he constantly had a fever, sore throat and sniffles. The doctor told me that everyone’s immune system is a lot lower (some more then others) due to being masked up for the last two winters so some people are picking up virus after virus because of it.

Seems like some brain- eating bacteria got hold of you hun.

Obviously
I've had 6 and am typing from the afterlife
My immune system was fucked anyway, hence having 6...

I think it's fairly simple. Last spring everyone was still cautious about covid. Standing away from people, hand washing, gelling etc. then summer and fewer viruses anyway plus open air plus still a fair bit of distancing. Since autumn everyone I know had been close, hugging, huddling up together and probably not so careful I was in ikea and held the bannister. A few months earlier I would have gelled or hand washed before eating but I didn't. Multiply this behaviour across the population and coughs and other illnesses are going to spread exponentially until now is your perfect storm. I didn't have a cold for 3 years but have had 3 colds and a tummy bug in as many months. Basically our immunity was low and the being attacked massively.

Last spring everyone was still cautious about covid

This simply isn't true. For most people life went back to normal July 2021.

This simply isn't true. For most people life went back to normal July 2021.

Last winter my kids were still sitting in freezing cold classrooms (in thermal underwear and coats) in secondary as windows were always open to help reduce infections. This year that's not been happening.