2024-01-14 03:33:00
Coronavirus (Photo: LPA/pixabay)
Covid has become one disease among many. This is reflected in the current infection situation. The virologist Gernot Walder gives an overview.
The Christmas holidays are traditionally a period in which many infectious diseases are passed on and spread. Not only are many people becoming infected through family gatherings and travel, but new pathogens are also spreading.
The East Tyrolean infectiologist Gernot Walder has now gotten an idea of the infection situation in East Tyrol. Thanks to cost-effective procedures, it is now possible to test 30 germs from one swab at the same time. This makes a fairly precise analysis possible. He has taken 200 swab tests since December 1st. In the interview he explains the image that emerges from this.
Daily newspaper: Mr. Walder, how would you summarize the current infection situation?
Gernot Walder: We have a colorful mix of different diseases. The most frequently detected pathogen in East Tyrol is Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium that, despite its name, has nothing to do with the flu. This is followed by influenza (17.5 percent), pneumococci (17 percent), SARS-CoV2 (13.7 percent), enteroviruses (10.8 percent), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (5.7 percent) and classic respiratory coronaviruses the pandemic already existed (3.3 percent). In total, more than 30 different pathogens were detected. This is not new, this was already the case before Corona, but it was subsumed under “flu peak”. At that time, identifying the germs actually involved from the variety of pathogens simply failed due to costs, time and limited technical possibilities. Things are getting better now: new procedures enable us to test a large number of pathogens quickly and relatively cheaply. This not only gives us a better overview of the epidemiological situation, but also pathogen-specific therapies and targeted measures to break the epidemic chains.
What is the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae?
The cause of the flu is a virus, the influenza virus. Before viruses might be cultured or detected using electron microscopy, it was assumed that this bacterium caused the flu. Today we know that this is not the case. Many people carry Hemophilus influenzae in small quantities on their mucous membranes, but as a result of viral infections, the germ can assert itself once morest the body’s defenses and local flora and become a problem itself – as pharyngitis, bronchitis or pneumonia. A feared complication used to be inflammation of the epiglottis caused by capsule type B, which led to severe breathing problems in children – I was still confronted with this in my first years as an emergency doctor. Thanks to the sixfold vaccination, the epiglottitis has almost disappeared, which saved us a lot of problems this year. However, the vaccination does not protect once morest the other symptoms – pharyngitis, bronchitis, fever, etc.
What regarding other vaccinations? Will they provide reliable protection this year?
We have not had any vaccination breakthroughs with the flu so far this year. This also applies to pneumococci. There are individual cases of people becoming ill despite vaccination, but overall the vaccination has provided good protection so far.
They assume that Corona is still in retreat. Was there a major wave of Covid infections before?
There was no wave in East Tyrol in the fall that was as pronounced as the press from other regions. In November, Corona was briefly number one, but almost on a par with other pathogens. The virus no longer took the unrivaled top spot it had in recent years. This has settled down exactly as we expected.
So no measures are necessary due to Corona alone. How big is the burden of these clinical pictures together?
Of course, the infections have an impact: there are more sick days, the number of patients in doctors’ practices and outpatient clinics is higher, and we are seeing more severe cases than in other months. The interaction of two pathogens can also “infect” a healthy person. But this is normal in the winter and will probably last until March.
They recommend keeping an overview of the overall situation. Why?
I agree with the Chinese military leader Sun Tzu: Know yourself and your enemy, then you don’t need to fear the result of 100 battles. Not all the bacteria we have respond to the same spectrum of antibiotics, and viruses do not. Untargeted therapies are often ineffective, waste resources and increase the risk of resistance development. The patient benefits above all from pathogen-specific therapy. In addition, as long as I don’t know who I’m dealing with, it’s difficult for me to take preventive measures. We saw an increase in whooping cough cases in the fall. The doctors and health facilities took this into account. More cases were identified and treated specifically, contact cases received prophylaxis, and people who lacked vaccination protection were offered booster vaccinations. Within three months, the proportion of whooping cough among respiratory infections in the group we studied fell from 8% to less than one percent. So it paid off to monitor the situation. You can also and above all protect employees of medical facilities and ensure that there are fewer failures in the medical structures.
Interview: Markus Rufin
Photo(s): © 123RF.com and/or/with © Archive Die Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung GmbH (unless there is a reference)
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