Why Is the World Witnessing an Unprecedented Breakout of Infections?

The 2022–2023 flu season is a multidemic. ImageFlow/Shutterstock

Even though many would like to declare the pandemic over, COVID-19 variants are still mutating and circulating globally. At the same time, while the virus is particularly disastrous for China, which is seeing abnormal spikes in infection numbers, several waves of viral infections are currently sweeping the world, including the flu, RSV, and other influenza-like viruses. There may be a reason why this “multidemic” wave has come at such a pivotal point in the pandemic timeline.

The Flu Is Spreading Earlier This Season

When flu season comes around every year, it’s easy to spot people coughing, sneezing, and taking days off from the office. For most people, the flu is easy to beat, as most people overcome an infection after a few days with plenty of fluids and rest. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza infects tens of millions of people in the United States and causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year.

The estimated impact the flu had on the United States between 2010–2020. The Epoch Times

The worst part about the flu is that it causes tens of thousands of deaths, and researchers at the Universities of Florida and Buffalo say influenza causes a total economic burden of about 2.5 million dollars per American county. About 25 percent of counties nationwide are likely to experience an economic loss “greater than $6.42 million” each flu season.

Data show that the flu is spreading early and extraordinarily quickly this 2022–23 season. The CDC estimates that there have already been about 22 million flu cases since October 2022, meaning the virus is way ahead of the curve compared to previous seasons.

This graph shows the number of cases reported to the CDC over time. Date accessed: Nov. 14, 2022. The Epoch Times

Outpatient numbers have never reached such a volume since 2017–2018, the season when hospitalizations and ER visits prompted the CDC to classify it as “high severity” across the board. New hospital admissions due to influenza-like illnesses trended upward until early December 2022, hitting their peak as of Dec. 21, 2022. According to recent CDC data, nationwide hospitalization rates have hit a historical high compared to “every previous season since 2010–2011,” yet trends seem to have slowed down.

The 2022–23 flu season is still dominated by the influenza A virus strains, with the subtype H1N1 coming in second and the H3N2 seasonal strain following. Data from the CDC show that most cases have been of the A lineage, with less than 0.5 percent of all tested samples showing a positive for the B strain.

Compared with the A strain, the B strain only has two subtypes—Yamagata and Victoria—which generally cause less severe symptoms. Historically speaking, the B strain has accounted for about 25 percent of all flu cases and is more likely to infect children. However, symptoms do not really differ between the two strains, and patients receive the same treatment for both.

In mid-November 2022, around half of the people infected with the flu were children aged 5 to 17, and elderly patients only accounted for about 6 percent of all cases when looking only at New York. However, the elderly are most likely to experience worse symptoms compared to other age groups, marking them as a high-risk population.

This graph shows the trend of reported cases in New York state. Date accessed: Nov. 14, 2022. The Epoch Times

Adults also seem to be more affected than usual. Again, taking New York as an example, there were over 27 thousand cases of lab-confirmed influenza infections among people aged 18 to 49 in November 2022, which accounted for 24 percent of the total numbers.

In terms of the recent surge in cases, the United States is not an isolated case. Case numbers have increased internationally above the “epidemic threshold” set by the World Health Organization. Along with the flu, other viruses have seen a surge in cases, making this winter what some have termed “multidemic.”

A Rise in RSV Alongside COVID-19, Flu, and Other Viruses

RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus and has cold-like symptoms but is worse than influenza in the sense that it causes many lower-respiratory-tract-related issues, including airway inflammation and infection. Essentially, while the common cold likes to stay near the head, nose, and mouth, RSV likes to travel down into the lungs.

RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in U.S. children younger than 12 months.

An RSV infection generally runs its course over one to two weeks and, much like the flu, is more severe for infants and the elderly. The upsurge in RSV cases in the United States has come with higher RSV hospitalization rates than in previous years. Another indication that RSV is running rampant in the United States is that levels of RSV in wastewater have been increasing over the past few months at an unprecedented rate.

RSV levels are on the rise in the United States. The Epoch Times

On the other side of the globe, Australia and New Zealand had similar trends. New Zealand’s weekly hospitalization rates were already “93 percent higher than in 2019” and significantly higher than the notoriously difficult winters of the 2017–18 seasons.

Many people forget that countries in the southern hemisphere have their winter around the middle of the year and their summer is only fast approaching as the year concludes. In terms of their flu seasons and COVID-19 waves, they are ahead of the northern hemisphere.

Doctors have come out and openly addressed the issues regarding this incoming wave of cases, saying that it is marked by multiple viruses. As New Zealand’s flu season concludes, its Influenza Dashboard reported that there have been many viruses circulating, the most prevalent being rhinoviruses. Other viruses in circulation include RSV, adenoviruses, enteroviruses, and of course SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

Therefore, for the 2022–2023 season, we face three major health threats: COVID-19, the seasonal flu, and RSV, all of which will likely continue to spread in the coming months. We should also pay attention to other viral infections, such as the human rhinovirus (hRV), human adenovirus (hAdV), and human parainfluenza virus (hPIV). Reports have indicated an increase in these viral infections as well.

Although these illnesses are highly contagious and can cause potentially serious disease, many employers do not recognize them as a significant threat and soon become short-staffed and experience operational delays.

This season, we should enhance surveillance of influenza-like illnesses (ILI), and people may wish to take similar personal precautions as they did throughout the COVID pandemic.

Why Have So Many Viruses Broken Out All of a Sudden?

SARS-CoV-2 has long dominated the world since 2020, yet many countries predicted an uptick in other viruses since the relatively weaker Omicron took over in early 2022. Omicron was no longer the king of the hill, which allowed other infectious diseases to gain a foothold in the population.

Viruses and bacteria occupy their own ecosystem and abide by their own rules, which humans don’t really understand. In their world, many pathogens occupy the same territory. When one particular virus—let’s say SARS-CoV-2—dominates the biosphere, other pathogens are squeezed aside, delaying their emergence during their normal active season. This can help explain why the flu was so suppressed during the past two years, as well as the recent surge in a plethora of viruses.

The world is witnessing an unprecedented tsunami of infections in mainland China now. One focus is on which strains are dominating in China. The other is why so many people are experiencing severe lung infections, despite the world seeing much milder symptoms given Omicron’s dominance. To add gas to the fire, China is also experiencing a significant surge in flu-related diseases, coinciding with the country’s shortage of fever medicine after lifting their zero-COVID restrictions.

Flu-related illnesses are predicted to spike following lifted COVID restrictions. The Epoch Times

For almost three years, many people have been forced to isolate and reduce their contact with the outside world due to the pandemic. As a result, people’s immune systems—especially children’s—have been weakened in the absence of exposure to regular pathogens.

This phenomenon is often named “immunity debt.” As a result, people are more likely to be infected by respiratory pathogens, and their infections may deteriorate into more unfortunate conditions. As a consequence, the financial and social burden of the 2022–23 flu season might be far worse than that of previous years.

One lesson we can learn from the pandemic and the recent outbreak in China is that human beings are not necessarily smarter or more powerful than pathogens. China only loosened its restrictions because it could no longer contain the outbreak through draconian zero-COVID measures. We couldn’t predict when the outbreak would come, nor when it may disappear. We should focus on our health and strengthen our bodies and minds to prepare for what we now face.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.