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Comment by VortexDream | Hacker News Reader

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VortexDream·

I'm not aware of similarities with other infections. Care to cite sources?

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Influenza can trigger numerous issues.

My mother ended up on anti-seizure tablets after the last flu outbreak having spent five days in intensive care.

The flu brought on a fit and hypo-natremia. It took months before she could walk properly again.

Our success against infectious diseases has left a generation or two with insufficient fear of them.

I’ve seen people catch a bad cold on Wednesday and be dead from pneumonia on Sunday.

The impact from Covid isn’t new. It’s just a rediscovery of why we spent the twentieth century on an all out war against infectious diseases and septicaemia.

Maybe. However, the rates at which I'm seeing long Covid seem entirely novel. Something like 30% of all cases in a recent study show signs of it, including mild cases. I admit there are overlaps in fatigue syndrome (and should've phrased my original comment differently), but AFAIK we've usually only seen that in severe infections with other diseases while we're seeing abnormally high rates of (to varying degrees) cognitive impairment even in mild or asymptomatic Covid infections.

(Not OP) Viral infection can have this effect. The flu for sure, but also the varicella virus (i think this is the translation?) do too. West Nile virus also?

Its definitly not the majority of viruses, and i'm not sure bacterial (benefit of the doubt here). Don't tell me you never exagerate a little :P

> varicella virus (i think this is the translation?)

chickenpox.

Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome#Viral...

Many infections (viral or bacterial) can cause long term inflammation, and inflammation can have such effects. Now what would really need to be measured if the degree of change is really different with COVID vs other infections.

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