Long COVID-like symptoms can also occur after the flu. Here’s how to prevent both

COVID long is a post-viral disease that occurs after infection with COVID. Also known as PASC, or post-acute sequelae of COVID, it is generally defined as new symptoms that develop after infection and persist for at least four weeks, often for months, and sometimes for years.

Similar post-viral illnesses can also occur with other viruses, such as influenza, herpes, Lyme disease, and even Ebola and SARS. Post-viral illnesses often have a presentation similar to chronic fatigue syndromewith symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and post-exercise sickness, in which symptoms worsen after mental or physical activity.

When looking at the percentage of infected people who develop post-viral illness, as well as the severity of symptoms, post-viral illness due to COVID is generally no more of a problem than that of influenza – at the Omicron era, at least. That’s according to new findings presented this week at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The research took place among people in Queensland, Australia, where over 90% of the population had been vaccinated before Omicron burst onto the world stage in early 2022.

For 12 weeks, the researchers followed nearly 2,200 adults who had been diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed COVID and nearly 1,000 adults who had been diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed influenza. Of those who tried Omicron, a fifth (21%) had persistent symptoms at 12 weeks and 4% reported symptoms that had a moderate or severe impact on daily life.

For those who had contracted the flu, the numbers were almost identical, with 23% reporting persistent symptoms at 12 weeks and 4% reporting moderate or severe effects on daily life.

But there’s a reason the long COVID is having an outsized impact on the healthcare system, Queensland Health researchers said in a Press release: the volume of COVID infections.

According to the World Health Organization, there have been more than 11 million lab-confirmed COVID infections in Australia over the past three years, a number that is likely a massive undercount.

In comparison, Australia only registered just over 225,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza last year.

“In our highly vaccinated population, the public health impact of long COVID does not appear to be the result of any single property of SARS-CoV-2,” said Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard in the communicated. “Rather, the impact results from the number of people infected over a short period of time.”

Long COVID risk factors

Interestingly, the study noted that those who were members of the following groups were less likely to report moderate or severe functional limitations in their daily lives after Omicron or the flu:

• old people
• members of indigenous peoples

About 5% to 10% of Australians who have had COVID report symptoms that last longer than three months. People who belong to the following groups seem to be at higher risk, according to the country’s federal health agency:

• women
• Middle Ages
• those who have had severe COVID

In general, people with the following health conditions are at greater risk of developing long COVID, according to a March review article in Health Affairs:

• hypertension
• chronic lung disease
• obesity
• diabetes
• depression

How to prevent the long COVID

The best way to prevent COVID for a long time is to prevent COVID infection, by doing the following, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• masking
• social distancing
• frequent quality hand washing
• stay away from people with a known illness

It is widely believed that vaccination against COVID could reduce the risk of developing long COVID. Just one shot could reduce your risk by 35%, according to Harvard Health.

When it comes to reducing long-term COVID risk, “vaccination goes a long way,” Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases and epidemiology at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann in Texas, and director of infectious diseases for UTHealth Houston COVID-19 Center of Excellence– recount Fortune.

How to prevent post-viral flu illnesses

If you’re looking to prevent possible post-viral flu illness, the same recommendations apply, says Ostrosky: “The principle is that the best way to not have long COVID or post-flu issues is to not not feel the diseases themselves. ”

“COVID has been a real eye-opener for all of us about the power of masking and hand hygiene,” he adds. “It is no longer automatic to fall ill in winter. You can most likely avoid it.

A COVID vaccine will not help you with the flu. But a flu shot could reduce your risk of developing post-viral flu complications, he advises.