The “Quad-demic” | Breaking it Down
Written by:
Joe Chow, MD, Adult Medical Director, AccessNurse
As if last season’s “tripledemic” of the flu, Covid and RSV wasn’t enough, this winter season has added a familiar virus, Norovirus, aka the “stomach flu”, to the mix. We’ve now become all too familiar with the three respiratory viruses and their coalescing during the respiratory season from fall to winter. They can have fairly similar presentations of fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and achiness.
However broadly, flu often presents suddenly, RSV tends to be more coughing/wheezing and Covid may present with loss of taste/smell.
Often you will need testing to identify which virus is causing your symptoms, and keep in mind there are a host of other viruses that may cause similar symptoms. As of January 11th, per CDC the vast majority of the country are at high levels of flu, predominantly flu A at 18.8% of test positivity, followed by RSV at 8.9% and Covid at 6.6%.
For high risk patients, such as the elderly, those with chronic medical conditions or are immunocompromised, antiviral medications are available for the flu and Covid. There are vaccines for all three and it’s never too late to receive them.
Norovirus is also known as the “stomach flu”, and is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea. Although it is called the flu, it is actually not related to the flu. We’ve all likely had a bout of Norovirus- nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, stomach pain, fever, achiness, and likely others in the household or close contacts may have/get it due to the high contagiousness of this virus.
The virus is spread by direct contact with someone having the virus, eating food or liquids contaminated with the virus or touching contaminated objects or surfaces. Most improve on their own, but maintaining hydration is paramount to ensuring a good recovery.
As with all of the viruses in the Quad-demic, antibiotics are not effective in treating them. Good handwashing (as hand sanitizer is not effective against Norovirus), getting vaccinated where applicable and staying home when you’re sick is the best way to thwart this Quad-demic.
And as always, AccessNurse is here for you. Reach out to our team today to see how we can help your practice needs:
