Will the Spanish Flu come back? WHO warns of risk as COVID could worsen seasonal outbreaks

New Delhi: The COVID-19 pandemic has been around for over a year, and while researchers and experts have found several ways to combat the deadly virus in the form of various vaccine candidates, the fight against SARS-CoV-2 appears all but finished. With the recent discoveries of new strains of the virus, coming from various locations around the world, and the possibility that current vaccines will become redundant after several mutations, researchers are worried about how the current ongoing pandemic will ever end.

Some findings have also suggested that the new coronavirus could become seasonal in nature and that some parts of the world could experience outbreaks at least once a year. The deadly nature of the virus has also prompted scientists to look for potential pathogens that could cause future pandemics, like the Spanish flu that has killed more than 50 million people.

The biggest concern right now is seasonal flu, according to Dr McCauley, director of the Worldwide Influenza Center, and he predicts that a future pandemic will likely come from a strain of influenza – despite declining flu numbers.

According to Dr McCauley, Covid measures such as social distancing and regular hand washing have contributed to one of the lowest flu circulations in more than a century. However, in a post-COVID world with reduced immunity and diseases such as COVID-19 already affecting people, the risk of common viruses such as seasonal flu could be much higher.

A study published in the British Medical Journal showed that people infected with both the coronavirus and the flu were twice as likely to die as people infected with only coronavirus.

The return of the Spanish flu

The 1918 influenza pandemic, also known as the Spanish flu, infected around a third of the world’s population and is believed to have caused birds.

The death toll from the Spanish flu is estimated at around 50 million, killing more people than WWI.

And Dr McCauley has warned that we have to be ready for his return.

According to a report in The Sun, “Since we saw it (Spanish flu) before, we got to see it again. We still have to prepare for this type of event,” said Dr McCauley.

“Before the coronavirus, the next one that was going to come out and catch you was going to be the flu,” he added.

“The next will be the flu or some other coronavirus. You know the flu can do it, and now you know the coronavirus can do it. So the flu hasn’t gone off the list, the flu stays on the list , flu remains on the list. We were lucky with the first SARS-coronavirus, we weren’t so lucky this time around, and there could be other illnesses there, “he said. he explains.

Researchers are actively studying pathogens that may become the cause of the next pandemic. Experts say the world could see a pandemic every 5 years due to zootonic diseases, viruses and other germs that mutate to infect humans.