Influenza is a common respiratory infection. Although most cases are relatively mild, flu can cause more severe illness in young children and older people.
Influenza virtually disappeared from Australia during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic when public health restrictions reduced contact between people. Since 2022, it has returned to a seasonal pattern, although the flu season has started and peaked a few months earlier than before 2020.
Its difficult to predict the intensity of the flu season at this point in the year, but we can sometimes get clues from the northern hemisphere. There, the season started earlier than usual for the third year running (peaking in early January rather than late February/March), with a similar number of reported cases and hospitalisations to the previous year.
Influenza vaccines are recommended annually, but there are now an increasing number of different vaccine types. Heres what to know about this years shots, available from this month.
Like other vaccines, influenza vaccines work by training the immune system on a harmless component of the influenza virus (known as an antigen), so it can respond appropriately when the body encounters the real virus.
Influenza strains are constantly changing due to genetic mutation, with the pace of genetic change much higher than for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID). The strains that go into the vaccine are reviewed twice each year by the World Health Organization (WHO), which selects vaccine strains to match the next seasons predicted circulating strains.
All current influenza vaccines in Australia contain four different strains (known as quadrivalent vaccines). One of the strains appeared to disappear during the COVID pandemic, and the WHO has recently recommended dropping this strain from the vaccine. Its expected trivalent (three strain) vaccines will become available in the near future.
There are eight brands of flu vaccines available in Australia in 2024. These include egg-based vaccines (Vaxigrip Tetra, Fluarix Tetra, Afluria Quad, FluQuadri and Influvac Tetra), cell-based vaccines (Flucelvax Quad), adjuvanted vaccines (Fluad Quad) and high-dose vaccines (Fluzone High-Dose Quad).
Until recently, the process of manufacturing flu vaccines has remained similar. Since the development of the influenza vaccine in the 1940s, influenza viruses were grown in chicken eggs, then extracted, inactivated, purified and processed to make up the egg-based vaccines that are still used widely.
However, there have been several enhancements to influenza vaccines in recent years.
Older peoples immune systems tend not to respond as strongly to vaccines. In some flu vaccines, adjuvants (components that stimulate the immune system) are included with the influenza antigens. For example, an adjuvant is used in the Fluad Quad vaccine, recommended for over 65s. Studies suggest adjuvanted influenza vaccines are slightly better than standard egg-based vaccines without adjuvant in older people.
An alternative approach to improving the immune response is to use higher doses of the vaccine strains. An example is Fluzone High-Dose Quad another option for older adults which contains the equivalent of four doses of a standard influenza vaccine. Studies suggest the high dose vaccine is better than the standard dose vaccine (without an adjuvant) in preventing hospitalisation and complications in older people.
Other manufacturers have updated the manufacturing process. Cell-based vaccines, such as Flucelvax Quad, use cells instead of eggs in the manufacturing process. Other vaccines that are not yet available also use different technologies. In the past, manufacturing issues with egg-based vaccines have reduced their effectiveness. Using an alternative method of production provides some degree of insurance against this in the future.
Given indications this years flu season may be earlier than usual, its probably safest to get your vaccine early. This is particularly important for those at highest risk of severe illness, including older adults (65 years and over), those with chronic medical conditions, young children (six months to five years) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Influenza vaccines are also recommended in pregnancy to protect both the mother and the baby for the first months of life.
Influenza vaccines are widely available, including at GP clinics and pharmacies, while many workplaces have occupational programs. For high-risk groups, four of the vaccines are subsidised by the Australian government through the National Immunisation Program.
In older people, a number of vaccines are now recommended: COVID and influenza, as well as one-off courses of pneumococcal and shingles vaccines. In general, most vaccines can be given in the same visit, but talk to your doctor about which ones you need.
All influenza vaccines can cause a sore arm and sometimes more generalised symptoms such as fever and tiredness. These are expected and reflect the immune system reacting appropriately to the vaccine, and are mostly mild and short-term. These side effects are slightly more common in adjuvanted and high dose vaccines.
As with all medications and vaccines, allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis can occur after the flu vaccine. All vaccine providers are trained to recognise and respond to anaphylaxis. People with egg allergies should discuss this with their doctor, but in general, studies suggest they can safely receive any (including egg-based) influenza vaccines.
Serious side effects from the influenza vaccine, such as Guillain-Barr syndrome, a neurological complication, are very rare (one case per million people vaccinated). They are thought to be less common after influenza vaccination than after infection with influenza.
Bird flu has spread to cattle on dairy farms, including one where a worker became infected, but it has never spread among people. (Getty Images)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking states to prepare for more bird flu cases by gearing up to test at-risk people for the virus, but insists that the risk to the general public remains low, Reuters reports. It comes after one dairy worker in Texas contracted bird flu, also known as avian influenza, which has been spreading among cattle in the state, as well as in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio. It hasnt spread to any other people, so far.
How concerned should you be about bird flu, and what might this mean for the food supply? Heres what you need to know.
Bird flu clinically known as influenza A (H5N1) is a variation of flu virus that spreads primarily among birds and poultry and can be highly contagious and even fatal among birds, according to the CDC. Occasionally, the virus will jump to other animals if they eat infected birds or drink water contaminated by the feces of infected birds, the CDC says. That has become more common in recent years. Viruses are constantly mutating, and the more they spread, the more they mutate. A recent family of variants may be particularly adept at infecting other animals, including cattle, according to the World Health Organization.
Its rare for the virus to infect humans, and when it does happen, its usually confined to one person who was in close contact with an infected animal and doesnt spread to others. Bird flu may cause mild to severe sickness in humans, and it has the potential to cause pneumonia and severe, sometimes fatal lung inflammation. Since 2020, there have been 26 cases in humans confirmed by the WHO, seven of which have been fatal.
The CDC continues to call for calm and considers the risk to the general public low, but on Monday the agency requested that state health departments begin gearing up in case additional people are infected.
So far the U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed nine cases of infected dairy cattle herds in Texas, three in Kansas, two in New Mexico and one each in Idaho, Michigan and Ohio.
The infected person was diagnosed after developing conjunctivitis, or pink eye. Its only the second-ever human case of bird flu in the U.S.; the first was a poultry farm worker who was infected in 2022 while culling infected birds and recovered after experiencing only mild fatigue. Eye inflammation is the only symptom of the person currently infected, and theyre receiving antiviral medication.
Other dairy and poultry farm workers are the CDC's main concern now. The agency asked state health officials to take steps like making sure they have bird flu tests available to confirm possible infections. It also said health officials should stay in close contact with veterinarians and agriculture department officials and asked to be notified of any "challenges" states encounter.
For the general public, the risk remains low, the CDC says. Bird flu has never been very good at spreading from person to person, so its unlikely to become widespread. The virus would have to mutate in some specific, key ways to make that possible.The good news is that it hasnt, according to preliminary testing of a sample of virus from the infected person, who has only mild symptoms.
Bird flu has been detected in egg-laying chickens and dairy cows at a handful of U.S. farms. It has also been found in unpasteurized milk. But the USDA says that there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply because products are pasteurized before entering the market. Pasteurization is a partial sterilization process thatseffective at killing harmful viruses and bacteria, including bird flu. You shouldnt consume unpasteurized milk or cheese regardless, the CDC warns, because they carry risks of infections like listeria. The CDC also notes that the risk of being infected from eating eggs is low, and properly cooking them would kill any virus anyway.
Farms are prohibited from selling products including milk and eggs from sick animals, so its unlikely that contaminated food would wind up on grocery store shelves. The most likely impact of the bird flu outbreak in animals on the food supply is rising prices. Egg prices have shot up as chickens have been culled or died, limiting the supply of eggs. Milk prices could see increases but are stable so far.
Two candidate vaccines drafts of what would become the shots seem to be good matches for the current strain of bird flu, the Washington Post reports. The CDC maintains a stockpile of vaccines, including vaccines against A(H5N1) the strain the poultry farmer contracted and A(H7N9) bird flu viruses, the agencys website also states. Antiviral drugs can also be used to treat bird flu, although the CDC says that some variations of bird flu first found in Asia arent as responsive to these treatments.
Dr. Arnold Monto, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and member of the FDAs vaccine committee, tells Yahoo Life that the U.S.s bird flu vaccines require adjuvants, ingredients that improve humans immune responses. An official with the Department of Health and Human Services also told the Washington Post that components for the vaccines are being tested, and it would likely take weeks to months for them to be ready for widespread distribution. Monto adds that the vaccine would also likely be given to only those at high risk poultry and dairy farm workers since theres no evidence that bird flu spreads among humans.
Avoid close or prolonged contact with wild birds, cattle or any other animal suspected of being infected. The CDC also recommends steering clear of surfaces that may be contaminated with raw milk, animal feces, litter or anything else that might have crossed paths with an infected animal.
Cooking poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165F will kill off any virus. It's also recommended for milk drinkers to consume only pasteurized milk to prevent contracting bird flu or other viruses or bacteria from raw foods, and to avoid raw or undercooked foods sourced from animals that may be infected with bird flu.
This article was originally published on Apr. 4, 2024. It has since been updated.
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How vast was the Great COVID Cover-up?Well, my investigation has recently discovered government officials from 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19.
These officials knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of these officials revealed this scheme to the public.In fact, 15 agencies with knowledge of this project have continuously refused to release any information concerning this alarming and dangerous research.
Government officials representing at least 15 federal agencies were briefed on a project proposed by Peter Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Dr. Anthony Fauci adjusts his face mask during a Senate hearing on the federal response to the coronavirus on Capitol Hill, March 18, 2021. (Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images)
This project, the DEFUSE project, proposed to insert a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus to create a novel chimeric virus that would have been shockingly similar to the COVID-19 virus.
THIS WILL BE THE END TO FAUCI'S NIH AS WE KNOW IT
For years, I have been fighting to obtain records from dozens of federal agencies relating to the origins of COVID-19 and the DEFUSE project. Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018.
What does this mean?
It means that at least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19.
RAND PAUL DEMANDS FAUCI, NIH SCIENTISTS DISCLOSE PHARMACEUTICAL ROYALTIES
Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research. Not one of these agencies warned anyone that this Chinese lab had already put together plans to create such a virus.
Peter Daszak concealed this proposal. University of North Carolina scientist Ralph Baric, a named collaborator on the DEFUSE project, failed to reveal that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had already proposed to create a virus similar to COVID-19.
And now we know that 15 agencies heard the proposal and when each agency discovered that COVID-19 was strangely similar to DEFUSEs proposed virus creation, not one agency head stepped forward to warn the public that the virus might be man-made and therefore already adapted to transmit freely among humans.
THE ARROGANCE OF ANTHONY FAUCI
Not surprising to some of us, Dr. Anthony Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) was not only briefed on Wuhans desire to create this virus, NIAID was actually listed as a participant in the initial DEFUSE pitch. Faucis Rocky Mountain Lab was named as a partner alongside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the proposal.
These documents also reveal that a scientist whose lab has received millions of dollars from EcoHealth was also part of the original plan to create these chimeric coronaviruses. This researcher, Ian Lipkin, also later became one of the authors of "Proximal Origins," a journal paper commissioned by Fauci and National Institutes of Health head Francis Collins to throw shade on anyone arguing that the virus might have come from the lab. Yet, Ian Lipkin never revealed to the public the DEFUSE proposal.
Did NIAID warn us? Did Anthony Fauci warn us? No! All lips remained sealed.
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Millions of people died from COVID-19. We now know that over 15 government agencies, as well as the investigators Peter Daszak, Ralph Baric, Ian Lipkin and scientists at NIAIDs Rocky Mountain Lab, all knew of the Wuhan Institute of Virologys desire to create a coronavirus with a furin cleavage site, a virus pre-adapted for human transmission.
And no one spoke up. We only know of this DEFUSE proposal because a whistleblower, one brave Marine, Lt. Col. Joseph Murphy, came forward with the truth.
Likely, hundreds of people in the government knew of this proposal to create a COVID-19-like virus and virtually every one of these people chose to keep quiet, to obscure, and ultimately to conceal information that might have saved lives by letting the world know this was no sleepy animal virus with poor transmission.
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No, all evidence suggests COVID-19 was a laboratory-enhanced virus purposefully adapted for human transmission.
Shame on all those who covered up the DEFUSE project! Of course, they all should be punished but likely wont. At the very least, though, the perpetrators should be made to admit the truth and Congress should finally put in place sufficient oversight to make sure dangerous gain of function experiments are sufficiently vetted and, if necessary, prevented.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM SEN. RAND PAUL
(WKBN) The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force released its 2024 report Tuesday.
Since its inception in 2021, the task force has charged 3,500 people for losses of over $2 billion.
The task force investigations have led to over $100 million in settlements and judgments and over $1.4 billion seized or forfeited.
The fraud is domestic and foreign. The task force said some of the fraud is committed overseas and that strike forces have been assigned to investigate those complex and harmful cases.
Fraud has occurred with U.S. unemployment benefits, business loans and grants, as well as other COVID-19 relief programs.
Our work is not over. We will continue our efforts to investigate and prosecute pandemic relief fraud and to recover the assets that have been stolen from American taxpayers., said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland is asking for the statute of limitations to be extended and for funding to be appropriated to continue investigations and prosecutions.
The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was set up by Garland through the U.S. Department of Justice.
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New research from the University of Georgia suggests that something as simple as a cup of tea can help in the fight against COVID-19.
Tea has been renowned globally for its many health benefits, and Malak Esseili, a virologist with the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, wanted to know if it may also affect SARS-CoV-2.
When the first rumblings of the pandemic began, no one had to convince Esseili of the seriousness of the matter because of her background studying viruses. She immediately began looking for ways to help protect herself and her family. She needed something that was easily accessible and palatable, so she turned to the humble tea leaf. After a quick trip to her local grocery store, she was ready to begin her research.
"Having something that is accessible, easily prepared, and suitable for all the family would be ideal," said Esseili, who was also inspired by her tea-loving kids.
Her team's findings, published in the journal Food and Environmental Virology, demonstrate how certain teas inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in salivain some cases by up to 99.9%. This is important because the virus infects and replicates inside the oral cavity, passing through the oropharynx before reaching the lungs.
"Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 in the mouth and the throat matters because that potentially reduces the introduction of the virus to the lower respiratory system," Esseili said.
Esseili and then-graduate student Julianna Morris, who graduated with her master's degree in food science in 2023, studied 24 different types of commercially available teas, some of which claim to aid in respiratory health. Of those, they found five that significantly reduced the virus in saliva: raspberry zinger, eucalyptus mint, mint medley, green tea and black tea, with black tea showing the greatest reduction. All testing was done in the laboratory in simulated conditions.
The team tested the efficacy of tea both as a drink and as a gargle to provide an option for those do not want to drink tea but want a highly concentrated rinse that would provide the same benefits as drinking a cup of tea.
Researchers prepared a drinkable infusion concentration using one tea bag per cup steeped for 10 minutes, with no additions such as milk or sugar. All five teas reduced the virus by at least 96% within 10 seconds in the mouth. Black tea was the most effective, reducing the virus by 99.9%. When tested as a gargle, they brewed the tea at four times the concentration of the drinkable infusion, finding that all five varieties of tea reduced the virus by 99.9% within 10 seconds when gargled.
Clinical trials are needed to understand better what effect these results may have on a patient who is ill with COVID-19, Esseili said, stressing that tea is not a replacement for medical care. Still, the initial results are both promising and exciting for those looking to supplement medical care.
"At this stage, we are not suggesting tea as a stand-alone intervention against SARS-CoV-2, because the virus also replicates in the nose and may have already reached the lung by the time a person tests positive," Esseili said. "But tea can be an additional layer of intervention that the patients and their families can easily adopt on a routine basis."
More information: Julianna N. Morris et al, Screening Commercial Tea for Rapid Inactivation of Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Saliva, Food and Environmental Virology (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s12560-023-09581-0
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that 15 federal agencies were aware of a proposed project from 2018 that would have allowed virus research organization EcoHealth Alliance to genetically engineer a virus similar to SARS-CoV-2, sparking concerns about the extent to which the Trump administration should have been aware of the risks of research into dangerous viruses before the start of the COVID pandemic.
The project ultimately was not funded, but EcoHealth Alliance-funded research in Wuhan, China, has been at the center of speculation on the part of congressional investigators about the origins of the coronavirus.
At least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19, Paul said on Tuesday. Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research.
Documents revealed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Paul is the top Republican member, indicate that several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Homeland Security, were aware of EcoHealths hope to create in China what Paul calls a novel chimeric virus with pandemic potential.
EcoHealth, a research nonprofit organization with the goal of preventing pandemics, has played a central role in the congressional investigation into the origins of COVID because of the grant funding the organization receives from the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies.
Since 2021, Paul has drawn attention to a 2018 grant proposal from EcoHealth to the Department of Defense under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The research proposal, referred to as the DEFUSE project, would have been conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
House Republicans recently uncovered information indicating that EcoHealth President Peter Daszak may have misled DARPA as to how much of the research would have been done in the United States rather than China in order to ensure that the DOD was comfortable with [the] team.
If the project had been funded by DARPA, the research would have involved manipulation of the spike proteins on various viruses related to SARS-CoV, which would have subsequently been injected into humanized mice to assess [the modified viruses] capability to cause SARS-like disease.
Paul said that the DEFUSE project would have specifically inserted a furin cleavage site onto a coronavirus, a key feature of SARS-CoV-2 that makes it easily transmissible among humans.
Paul announced first in an opinion piece on Tuesday that he had received documentation from the Biden administration that key agencies in public health and national security were made aware of the DEFUSE project at an event hosted by DARPA before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Because the DEFUSE project was submitted to the DARPA under the PREventing EMerging Pathogenic Threats, or PREEMPT, program, EcoHealth and the WIV were invited to participate in the so-called PREEMPT Proposers Day.
Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018, Paul said.
According to Paul, this means that these agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic about the project, including the NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the leadership of then-Director Anthony Fauci.
Did NIAID warn us? Did Anthony Fauci warn us? No! All lips remained sealed, Paul wrote in his op-ed.
Daszak participated in a closed-door transcribed interview session with the House Oversight and Energy and Commerce committees in November.
Discrepancies between Daszaks testimony and documents about the DEFUSE project uncovered via Freedom of Information Act requests prompted the committees to schedule a public hearing to question Daszak about the project.
Daszak is slated to appear for public testimony on May 1.
When asked about Pauls revelation, a spokesperson for the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic told the Washington Examiner that members will be likely asking Daszak about the degree of federal knowledge about the DEFUSE project outside of DARPA.
Dr. Peter Daszak has many questions to answer when he appears before the Select Subcommittee in May, said the subcommittee spokesperson. The American people deserve a full transparent investigation into the relationship between EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including any funding federal agencies reviewed and granted prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A spokesperson for EcoHealth said in a statement that Pauls opinion piece is full of several unfounded and false claims.
EcoHealth Alliance did submit a proposal for a project named DEFUSE to DARPA for funding, but the agency declined to select the project for support and the proposed research was never done, the spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson maintained that EcoHealth did not pursue funding from any other federal agency for the DEFUSE project.
In response to a different opinion piece from Paul published in February related to dangerous pathogen research, the EcoHealth spokesperson previously told the Washington Examiner that the research conducted at the WIV had nothing to do with SARS-CoV-2.
The fact is that the bat coronavirus research conducted by EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology could not have started the COVID-19 pandemic, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said that if the DEFUSE project had been approved by DARPA, it would have been carefully monitored by the DOD.
Rates of long COVID have begun to flatten. About 1 in 10 adults with COVID have reported having long COVID since rates fell in 2023, according to a KFF analysis of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the rate continues to hold steady, new forms of prevention or treatment may be important to achieve future reductions in long COVID.
As of March 2024, 7% of all adults (17 million people) reported that they have long COVID. Among the 60% of adults who reported ever having had COVID, roughly 3 in 10 reported having long COVID at some point and about 1 in 10 reported currently having it. The ongoing gap between the two long COVID rates indicates that people are continuing to recover, even as rates stabilize.
Long COVID rates are highest among adults who are transgender or who have disabilities. Among the 17 million currently affected, 79% report having any activity limitations, and 25% report that long COVID limits their activities a lot. These limitations can lead to employment and material hardships, with 4 in 10 reporting food insecurity, 2 in 10 reporting difficulty paying rent or mortgage, and 1 in 10 reporting that they had to stop working for a period of time.
People with long COVID also report greater challenges accessing and affording health care. As COVID is treated more and more as another respiratory virus, this group could face greater barriers to health care going forward.
CLEVELAND, Ohio Two area men created a slew of fake businesses to get $4.2 million in fraudulent government funds meant to help small businesses and employees survive the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal prosecutors.
Joseph Oloyede, 61, of Medina, and Edward Oluwasanmi, 61, of Willoughby were charged Friday in federal court in Cleveland with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
Both pleaded not guilty at their arraignments and were released on $20,000 unsecured bonds.
Oluwasanmis attorney, Henry Hilow, said its early in the case, and he looks forward to reviewing the evidence. A message was left for David Johnson, Oloyedes attorney.
Oloyede is the owner of Available Tax Services, Inc., a tax consultant business in Bedford Heights. Oluwasanmi owned Dayspring Transportation, a charter bus service based in South Euclid.
The duo created several other businesses that did little or no real business, lied on applications for the loans and recruited others to fill out fraudulent forms, according to the indictment.
Those who filled out the forms paid Oloyede and Oluwasanmi kickbacks for organizing the fake filings, according to court records.
Oloyede used some of the money to pay a contractor $24,473 for work on his Foote Road home, according to court records.
Oluwasanmi used $224,880 to buy a commercial property at 422 S. Green Road in South Euclid, where he moved his Dayspring business, court records say.
Prosecutors are seeking to seize Oloyedes home, which he bought in 2021 for $130,000, and Oluwasanmis commercial building.
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.
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Posted: April 08, 2024
For Vancouver resident Farrell Eckman, having a long conversation or attending a workout classwithout breaking into coughs is a majoraccomplishment.
The 50-year-old is one of many people whoresearchers saydeveloped pulmonary fibrosisa condition that thickens the tissue in lungs and can affect breathingafter experiencing asevere caseof COVID-19.
In January 2022, Eckman was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital because she was having trouble breathing along with flu-like symptoms.
"Ispent over amonth in ICU. I was on a ventilator. Not once, but twice. [My family]thought they were gonna lose me," she recalled. "It was the scariest time we've ever been through."
Eckman'stime in hospital was caused by her second bout of COVID. She had received three vaccines for the coronavirus that causes the disease.
While she eventually recovered and was released to go home along withsix litres of oxygen, which isthe maximum amount a patient can be discharged with. Eckmanwas later diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis,caused bythe toll that COVID took on her lungs.
"The damage that was sustained to my lungs from COVID pneumonia was severe. They've looked at my lungs numerous times.I don't know if I'll ever fully recover. I'm functioning, which is tremendous. ButI could possibly be dealing with this for the rest of my life."
A meta-analysis published in the Annals of Medicine & Surgeryin April 2022 found almost 45per centof recovered COVID-19 patients developed pulmonary fibrosis, and those patients often suffered persistent symptoms such as coughing, chest pain and fatigue.
The research also drew a link between severity of COVID-19 symptoms and severity of consequent pulmonary fibrosis.
It's something Daniel Marinescu, a respirologist at Vancouver General Hospital, says he is seeing more often, adding that patients are more prone to developing pulmonary fibrosis depending on how severe scarring of their lung tissue is.
Marinescu says he's seen "several dozen" of these cases.
"Most of the time it is a fairly mild disease and most of the time people slowly get better over months and years," he said. "But sometimes people take a big hit if they're in the ICUfor a long time or on the ventilator for a long time."
Janet Pope, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine at Western University in London, Ont., says while research is limited, factors like age and smoking could affect the likelihood of patients developing the condition.
"We know that COVID pneumonia can cause pulmonary fibrosis. Not in most people who get COVID pneumonia, but if it's more severe, older age groups, more severe inflammation of the lungs from COVID," she said.
Pope adds patients may feel frustrated with their symptoms, but recommends sharing concerns with health-care professionals.
"They would take astethoscope and listen to the bottom of the lungs. It takes four seconds to do. If they hear what we call 'crackles' then theycan do a chest X-ray," she said.
"Have a listen to people if they say they'reshort of breath, if they're coughing, if they have a cold that's not improving," she advises.
For Eckman, recovery remainsa constant in her life. She says she works daily on improving herbreathing, and does pilatesregularly. However, shestill occasionally hasto use oxygen at night to help with her breathing.
"I just passed my two-year anniversary. I'm still dealing with it. It's an ongoing process," she said.
If youor someone you knowhas been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis,the Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation has resources availablethat can help.
