New strain BQ. Speed up! A Triple pandemic is a reality!
2-year-old boy infected with 3 viruses at the same time high fever 40 degrees + hallucinations!
A storm, officially ending Vancouver’s long summer of 2022, plunged overnight into autumn. As the weather cools down, people are coming to grips with the fact that it’s the season of the year for viruses. Two years after the fall and winter of COVID-19, public health experts around the world are increasingly worried that this time, it may not be just a combination of COVID-19 and influenza, but a triple pandemic.
The spread of various variants of the novel coronavirus is accelerating, the flu has returned after nearly two years of absence, and other respiratory viruses, such as RSV, are exacerbating infections and sickening more people. In recent days, the U.S. and Canada have seen three viruses spread at an accelerating rate, and the first signs of a “triple pandemic” have begun to emerge, with hospitals feeling the strain first.
With three viruses at once, Canadian health officials have begun to warn that the new strains, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are spreading fast. Experts strongly advise today: Put on your mask! A two-year-old boy in the United States was infected with three kinds of viruses at the same time. He had a high fever for several days and was directly sent to the hospital.
Meanwhile, provincial hospitals in Canada have begun to fill up with patients, with waiting times of more than 24 hours! Someone died after waiting 16 hours in pain, and it happened again! Health experts are worried about the possibility of a “triple pandemic” in BC, as the local flu outbreak seems to have started quietly and it is difficult to buy antipyretic medicine for children in pharmacies.
First, let’s talk about the “three pandemics”. Health officials and the World Health Organization were already distracted by the barrage of new strains, and Germany was nearing its peak at the start of the European pandemic. Germany is not expected to see a reduction in infections until February, when it will also be 200,000 a day, according to the data.
According to a new study from the University of Washington, the number of daily infections worldwide is expected to rise to 18.7 million by February. With COVID-19 and influenza alone, more than 1 million people will be infected in the U.S. each day, and if RSV is added, the situation will be even worse.
According to the New York Times, the mainstream strain Omicron BA.5 is giving way to the new strain in the United States, and BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are catching up and accelerating the spread. Just in time for the early arrival of flu season, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) has also surged across the country. Emergency rooms are seeing a dramatic influx of patients from a combination of COVID-19 in the young and flu and RSV in the elderly and children.
Experts say the coronavirus pandemic has changed people’s lifestyles, and quarantine measures such as wearing masks and quarantining have reduced the spread of common viruses. Now, with quarantine measures lifted and familiar viruses returning to the human world, the flu and RSV seasons have arrived earlier than expected.
“We are now seeing combinations of many viruses that are putting a lot of strain on the health care system.”
With vaccination rates on the rise, City University of New York epidemiologist Denis Nash isn’t worried about many hospitalizations from the coronavirus itself, but with multiple viruses circulating at once, it’s unclear what the future holds.
“We’ve never seen a situation where all three viruses are circulating at the same time, and it’s possible that there could be mixed infections, or that one virus could facilitate the spread of the other.” Of the Omicron variants currently circulating in New York, the one most likely to cause the winter peak, BQ.1.1, has now led to a surge in cases in Europe. In New York and New Jersey, BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 account for about 28% of all cases, up from 11% two weeks ago, according to the CDC.
Just this afternoon, the Public Health Agency of Ontario, Canada, issued a warning that the ratio of strains BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 is increasing at an alarming rate, twice that of the current dominant strain BA.5!
The bureau said it did not know much about the two new strains, but that they were circulating and that there was a high risk of increased infectivity, infection, and reduced vaccine effectiveness. In response, Dr. Fahad Razak, former head of Ontario’s COVID-19 scientific advisory group, said: It’s time to reinstate the mask rule! He said masks and vaccines alone are not perfect solutions, but they can be effective in reducing the incidence of COVID-19. What’s important is that Canada’s emergency rooms and pediatric hospitals are already feeling the strain of this wave, which is why health officials are so nervous.
The parents of Wilder Jackson, a 2-year-old boy in Ohio, were devastated when he was hospitalized with a high fever after being infected with three different viruses.
Jackson was diagnosed with the flu after a visit to Disney World with his family in September when he felt unwell. After treatment, the child recovered in a few days. But before long, Jackson began to have a fever again, and suddenly his temperature soared to 40 degrees. His parents were terrified, and he rushed to the doctor for examination. Even the doctor was surprised because he did not show any other symptoms of the virus.
After six weeks of back-and-forth fever, Jackson was sent to the Children’s Hospital, where he was tested and diagnosed for three viruses, which turned out to be a combination of rhinovirus, enterovirus, and adenovirus!
All three viruses are particularly dangerous for young children and being infected together makes them even more miserable. Jackson continued to receive treatment for so long that, until two days ago, he had not been able to leave the hospital and was even hallucinating.
“He would look at the ceiling and he would see something terrible and suddenly start crying and shaking all over.” Jackson’s one-year-old sister also came down with a bad cold a few weeks ago and was hospitalized for six hours before returning home. Such cases are surging across the country, with about 75 percent of pediatric beds in the United States now full.
Canada has not been spared, with a recent simultaneous flu and RSV outbreak beginning to surge in cases.
Toronto’s SickKids Hospital warned parents this week that their children can now wait up to 12 hours to be seen; A bed for inpatient care may require a wait of more than 24 hours!
Stefania Walsh, a Canadian mother with a 2-year-old daughter infected with both viruses, was treated recently. “The emergency room was chaotic. There were a lot of people there,” she said.
She took her daughter to the hospital in the evening when she suddenly began to have difficulty breathing. The initial diagnosis was that the child should be hospitalized, but after that, it was a wait of several hours for triage and another 14 hours for a pediatric bed.
“The hospital is trying to find a bed in other hospitals in the community because they are overstretched, but all hospital beds are in short supply. In the end we were lucky to get a bed here.”
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) says it now has 10 times the pre-Covid-19 average number of inpatients!
Lydia Ip, a 2-year-old girl in Ontario, has been infected with RSV at least four times since March. In addition to the usual symptoms, the virus caused pneumonia, and her oxygen saturation dropped to 80 percent.
She had contracted the virus once before in April, but her mother said: “For my daughter, COVID-19 is not as scary as RSV. She is coughing and vomiting now.”
There are signs that the nightmare of a triple pandemic may be coming true.
And it’s not just North America. Even Australia, in the southern hemisphere, is now facing its worst flu season in five years. BC Health has not yet declared a flu outbreak, but health officials have warned people to prepare.
Local parents may be the first to feel the pressure, and many people say that the shortage of antipyretic drugs for children has not been solved. During a 10-minute trip to get a flu shot last week, more than one parent came in with a child and asked when Tylenol would be available for kids. Even the pharmacist was upset. This autumn and winter, not only to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but also a variety of other conventional viruses are accelerating, and the year-end holidays are approaching. We hope that everyone should take the most basic prevention measures, such as washing hands frequently, wearing masks in crowded places, and trying not to share utensils with others. It is better not to get sick.
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