It isn’t just you that’s feeling under the weather. (Picture: Getty Images)
As if January wasn’t miserable enough, the harsh weather conditions mean coughs, colds, and viruses are running rampant among us.
Along with your typical colds and flu, we also still have Covid to worry about — but have you noticed anything different this year? Namely, the fact that literally everyone seems to be getting ill right now?
And not just that, but also a lot of us are feeling a lot more rotten than usual.
The good news is, its probably not Covid — but here comes the bad news. It turns out it’s possible to have multiple flus and viruses at the same time.
We can have more than one virus at a time (Picture: Getty Images)
Dr Chris Smith, a virologist from the University of Cambridge, made the revelation during a recent interview with the BBC.
‘We occasionally see people who are diagnosed with two, sometimes three, viral infections simultaneously,’ he told the outlet.
So, if you or a loved one had an ‘awful cold’ over the festive season that just wouldn’t quit, Dr Smith says it likely that you may have ‘succumbed to several things either all at the same time or one after another like a domino effect.’
Not only that, but Dr Smith said that the lockdowns related to the pandemic have left us with an ‘immunity debt’.
This is because we were contracting less illnesses than we usually would, meaning that our immune system needs a bit of time to adjust to being back out in the world.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
After a difficult few years due to the pandemic, Dr Smith said that Covid is ‘quite low down’ on the list of illnesses afflicting us this year.
Instead, we can blame various strains of influenza and respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV) going around.
So, keep safe, wrap up warm, and consider breaking out your old face mask if you’re heading into a huge crowd.
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Don’t worry, we’re not in another pandemic.