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Scientists link some flu, cough cases to Covid-19
In a number of cases, children have failed to respond to medication previously effective against the three diseases. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- According to Penn Medicine, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, flu is an infection of the nose, throat, and lungs. It spreads easily from person to person and it can affect a large group of people in a very short amount of time.
The researchers call for better care for the elderly and wearing of face masks, vaccination, among other solutions.
Medical research scientists in the country have attributed the flare-up of flu and cough cases to circulating viruses that irritate the airway, and allergies.
Dr Bruce Kirenga, the Director of Makerere University Lung Institute (MLI), said although viral infections such as influenza and Covid viruses account for 10-20 percent of the cases, “allergic and environmentally driven airway irritation are other major ones (drivers)”.
“Most people you find coughing and sneezing around, only up to 10 percent have an infection. The feeling is that it is an allergy or irritation; this is now new data from our studies,” Dr Kirenga explained.
He adds: “Irritation is not an allergy. There may be dust in the carpet or on the road and it irritates your airway [when you inhale it] making you cough; you don't have an infection or an allergy.”
The MLI director indicates that many people may not be getting the right treatment, especially those whose cough and flu are triggered by irritants. “The treatment is a medicine to reduce the irritation and at the Lung Institute, we just give them an inhaler to control the information and within four days the cough is gone,” Dr Kirenga said.
The MLI director further explains that irritants are influenced by changes in season.
“When the rain is about to come, the humidity goes up and most of these biological irritants (small organisms) grow. As humidity goes up, it also gets hot and then the dust will pick up the biological irritants,” he added.
Dr Kirenga also revealed that in their recent assessment of sick people in Kampala, Covid virus is causing some of the coughs and flu experienced. He said they screened people with acute respiratory illness who had come to seek care and tested for four viral infections – influenza A, B, Covid and another virus called Respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.
"But this is not a population-based study, it was among the people seeking care. We also did anther study in 10 hospitals across the country among people with respiratory illness and found the Covid prevalence was 3.8 percent,” he added.
The details in the report presented during the 9th Annual Scientific Conference of the East Central Southern Africa College of Physicians (ECSACOP) in Kampala, Dr Kirenga indicated that there were 49 deaths out of 4,252 patients. Of the deaths, 22 people aged 55 years and above died, compared to four deaths among young people aged 18-24.
Prevention
The MLI director says these findings emphasise the need that people who are older still need to protect themselves against these respiratory illnesses.
“They need to wear face masks, they need to get vaccinated, they need to eat well and seek care early. But most importantly, they need to get social support. Older people in Africa are so neglected,” Dr Kirenga recommended.
Dr. Kirenga added: “The Covid-19 vaccine is free, Influenza vaccine you have to buy from private clinics, it's Shs100,000 and Shs200,000. The pneumonia vaccine is also there; it's between Shs200,000 and Shs300,000.”
Dr Lydia Nakiyingi, the president of the Association of Physicians of Uganda, said there is a need to do more studies on existing strains of the virus driving flu in the country. She added that there is also a need to weigh the benefits and put more emphasis on infections with higher death risks.
“The kinds of flu that we still have in Uganda are not as bad compared to other strains of flu that happened in other countries in other continents, like Europe and America because of the good weather. So I should say that good weather has helped us as Ugandans. Even if we have flu, it's not the very bad flu that would kill someone,” she said.
About flu
According to Penn Medicine, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, flu is an infection of the nose, throat, and lungs. It spreads easily from person to person and it can affect a large group of people in a very short amount of time.
The first symptom is a fever between 102°F (39°C) and 106°F (41°C). Other common symptoms include Body aches, chills, dizziness, flushed face,-headache, lack of energy, nausea, and vomiting.
Flu in Children
The rampant cough and flu are being reported among adults and children.
Dr Daniel Tumwine, a pediatrician and the team leader at the Children’s Clinic Naalya, said in children, the cough and flu are usually caused by viruses but he said many who tested turned out negative for Covid.
“Right now we are experiencing a wave where there’s a lot of that. In children, most of these coughs and flu tend to be viral, and eventually, some of them can become bacterial. And we know, for example, that viral coughs, we don’t tend to treat with antibiotics,” he added. Dr Tumwine said the treatment given is generally symptom management. “We make sure the child has plenty of fluids and rest and then within a few days, sometimes it can take a week, the cough and flu will go,” he explained.
In very rare instances, this cough and flu can turn into pneumonia –when the infection attacks the lungs and then the child is unable to breathe.
“We don’t advise you to, for example, if your child has a cough and flu you just go to a drug shop, you need someone to check that chest to make sure that this cough and flu does not turn into pneumonia because that’s the one we’re going to fear,” he added.
