Stomach virus, covid, RS virus, influenza and respiratory infections have ravaged Christmas and continue into the new year. The flu in particular is spreading. There were 832 admissions registered in week 52, compared to 561 in week 51, which is an increase of 48 per cent. The infection that is in circulation has led to several hospitals increasing their preparedness. And the peak of the virus has not yet been reached, according to assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad. – No, unfortunately it probably isn’t, says Nakstad to news. According to specialist director Preben Aavitsland at the Institute of Public Health, it is estimated that a few hundred thousand are now infected with covid and influenza. – We now have a lot of admissions for respiratory infections, over two thousand per week. This is more than in many years. This is partly due to our first corona winters without measures and less immunity in the population against some other respiratory infections because there have been fewer of them in the last two winters. NOT TOO LATE: Subject director Preben Aavitsland at the Institute of Public Health believes people should vaccinate. – We expect that influenza vaccination protects well against a serious course of influenza. The influenza epidemic will continue for many more weeks. It is not too late to get vaccinated. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB Why does anyone escape? But not everyone gets sick. How is it that some family members get away cheaper, while the rest of the house get sick? It is a lot about coincidences, luck or bad luck, according to Anne Spurkland, who is professor of medicine at the University of Oslo. This is how you reduce the risk of infection in the family. Look further down in the case. Anne Spurkland is professor of medicine at the University of Oslo and is a researcher in immunology and autoimmune diseases. – The immune system is largely based on chance. In addition, the immune system is affected by the life we live, and no one in a family lives exactly the same life. Everyone also has their environment outside the family, which will affect how they react to a virus in the family. So that some people stay healthy, while others get sick during a family holiday, is completely to be expected. It is not necessarily the same person each time who escapes communicable disease or influenza. – It could be different viruses and different bacteria. Therefore, it will happen to be someone else who is better protected in the next round. Life history plays a role The life you have lived affects our immune system, and gives us varying degrees of immunity against infections we have already been through, says Spurkland. – Sometimes viruses and bacteria can be so similar to each other that past infection with one virus also partially protects against another virus. We saw that during the pandemic, that for some, a cold with a coronavirus infection provided some protection against covid-19. RECORD: In December, a full 38 per cent of the population stated that someone in the household has a cold, or that they suspected corona infection in someone they lived with. It is the highest number ever, according to the Norwegian corona monitor from Opinion. Photo: Malin Nygård Solberg / news There may also be some general protection in that the immune system has recently been activated by a virus or bacteria. – It makes the innate immune system more alert, so it reacts faster and more robustly to the next microbe, says Spurkland. Genetic differences Your genes also play a role. Our immune system is determined by genes we have inherited from our parents. But the immune cells that make antibodies and the immune cells that kill virus-infected cells are unique, according to Spurkland. – They are the result of a random genetic process in each of these immune cells. This means that even identical twins, who share all genes from their parents, do not have exactly the same immune cells. Thus, they also do not have exactly the same ability to react to viruses and bacteria. As we live our lives these random differences between us, even between identical twins, will only increase. – Immune reactions, against infections or vaccines, also involve a significant element of chance, says Spurkland. She explains that from childhood until adulthood, the immune system will develop and become more and more experienced. This may explain why children are more often sick with infections than adults. GET ILL MORE OFTEN: Children still have an immature immune system, and must build up immunity against the most common microbes that surround us. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB – But it is likely that adults’ immune systems also need to be reminded of what is in the environment in order to be just as good and effective all the time. Spurkland believes that the infection control regime during the pandemic may have removed many of the microbes that we normally have around us. – As a result, the immune system has partially “forgotten” microbes, which now this first winter season after the pandemic have been able to infect us more easily, says Professor Anne Spurkland. Influenza after vaccination How well the vaccine hits certain viruses is also part of the calculation, says doctor in Bodø, Raymond Dokmo. He himself got the flu a month ago, even though he has had the vaccine. – I had the boy with me the first week I was sick. He didn’t get it. – With type-A influenza, the vaccine does not hit that particular virus as well as one would like. It has also been hectic at the emergency room in Bodø. – Seen from the emergency department’s side, there have been a good number of inquiries from Christmas until now about respiratory infections. Children in particular can become quite unwell from, for example, the rs virus and may need breathing support. – Our task is to select those who need treatment. So we have admitted children to the hospital who have received help, especially those under the age of one with whom we must be particularly careful, says Dokmo. This is how you reduce the risk of infection in the family Espen Rostrup Nakstad from FHI says the most important thing now is to stay at home if you start to have a cough, fever, weakness, sore throat or other signs of respiratory infection. Then you infect no one other than those you may live with and contribute to lower sickness absence and fewer hospitalized patients. The probability of getting infected decreases if the person you live with is not in the most contagious phase of the disease, according to Nakstad. – The distance and the time you are in the same room is also very important. The reason is that most viruses are spread through small droplets that dry out quite quickly or slightly larger droplets that move quite a few meters away from the person carrying the infection. It is only if a sufficient number of virus particles hit your mucous membranes in the eyes, nose or other airways – and antibodies are unable to attach to enough virus particles – that you become infected. – This “infectious dose” is very different from person to person and depends, among other things, on immunity status, says Nakstad.
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