Does COVID-19 make you more susceptible to the flu, other viruses? Scientists weigh in
Global News
Some Canadians suspect their immune system may have taken a hit from the virus, after falling ill quite soon post COVID-19 recovery.
If you’re feeling fatigued from a recent COVID-19 infection, some speculate that your immune system may be exhausted too.
Canadians are anecdotally reporting catching the flu or even a stomach virus soon after recovering from COVID-19, making them wonder if their immune system has been weakened.
An immunologist and York University professor says it’s a fair assumption.
“The reason people are interested in this is that there was this initial fear that ‘Oh we’re going to have a twindemic‘ – the flu plus COVID. But that never materialized,” Ali Abdul-Sater told Global News via Zoom.
That means the country did not see an alarming spike in flu cases during this season … and some health experts suspect that may have a lot more to do with masking and physical distancing as opposed to the strength of people’s immune systems.
Still, many say they got a bad case of sniffles following COVID. Dr. Doug Manuel said that is probably an outcome of being cooped up at home for a long time, and those masks coming off.
“We are concerned that we have now had a few years where people haven’t been exposed to RSV or influenza, and so now our immunity is a little bit lower for those,” the director of the Wastewater Surveillance Group with CoVaRR-Net, and senior scientist with The Ottawa Hospital told Global.
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