I’m vaguely following the chatter on the comparisons of COVID with HIV.
I’ve never been a fan of this, because there are so many unanswered questions.
One thing I am sure of. Research shows the immune system does get damaged.
It does.
Which bits? How much? Recovery? What opportunistic infections? Impact on global disease patterns? Impact on animal disease patterns (ecology and food chain threats)?
All questions that will be answered over time.
No one should be surprised by this. It should not be even vaguely controversial. Plenty of viruses damage the immune system. We will find out exactly the extent of the nature of COVID on this aspect of health.
I could say nothing, and just watch, gaze with wonder, as the entire public health blanket we had becomes unraveled… as we keep pulling on the one loose thread.
SARS-CoV-2.
It’s depleted health systems of both staff and money and continues to do so.
It’s depleted our immune systems so that many, many bugs will have greater opportunity.
(Don’t bother to argue this one. Plenty of viruses do this, and if SARS is an exception I’ll eat my socks.)
This shows invasive group A strep being reported at about 200 notifications per week in 2023, with these numbers expected to increase due to the delays in reporting…
Past iGAS reporting pre-pandemic look like around 120 notifications per week in 2017-18.
There have been lower reports in the intervening years (changed behaviour?)