Experts: Flu back after Covid measures relaxed

"We blocked the 2020 influenza season by wearing masks and social distancing. In 2021, we did the same thing"

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Virologists said that the Influenza A outbreak that is hitting Bengaluru and other cities may be the H3N2 virus “making a comeback” after two years of precautionary measures taken due to Covid. They explained that the flu was a seasonal winter phenomenon and people are more likely to give it to each other in winter since they bunch together indoors in cold weather.

However, this pattern was broken at least partly by people practising physical distancing and masking up. This has caused viruses that lead to respiratory illnesses, including influenza viruses and adenovirus to come back with a vengeance because of people having less immunity to them due to few people contacting them in the twoyear gap, experts said.

India entered the endemic phase of the Covid pandemic in 2022 and few people wore masks and practised physical distancing leading up to the winter months of October and early 2023, which has led to an unusually severe and widespread Influenza A outbreak, which has continued in March.

Medical experts have assured lay persons that the flu usually becomes less of a menace in the summer. The remarks come in the backdrop of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) confirming that Influenza A was the cause of the fresh bout of cold, cough, fever and body ache being experienced by many.

Repaying debt Noted virologist Dr T Jacob John said that since “we had avoided the Influenza A virus during the pandemic, a debt of sorts was being repaid to the pathogen. We blocked the 2020 influenza season by wearing masks and social distancing. In 2021, we did the same thing. In 2022, we did it partially.

During this season, a lot of people have forgotten the influenza infection in 2020 and 2021. Under normal circumstances, a lot of people would have had influenza in these two years and would be less susceptible to these infections in 2022 winter period. So we are paying a debt back to the virus,” he said. “Influenza immunity is short-lived,” he added.

“Also, influenza tends to develop variants. Everybody knows about corona virus variants. Every year, the influenza virus outbreak may happen with a slight variance, which is slightly unfit for the previous immunity. All this put together is the background in which you should expect more influenza,” Dr John said, adding that adenovirus infections were on the rise in parts of Mumbai and West Bengal, calling these viruses “old friends” who are now causing concern since a lot of them are prevalent at once instead of smaller, separate outbreaks.