“Normally, at this time of year, we only see influenza in people returning from travel,” says Redlberger-Fritz. However, there are currently cases in people who have not traveled: “And that’s actually unusual.”
The Viennese general practitioner Erwin Rasinger says: “I’ve been a doctor for almost 40 years, but I’ve never seen so many colds with coughs, runny noses, sore throats and headaches in the summer.”
It is not possible for those affected to distinguish whether they are suffering from Covid or other infections.
“Normally one says that the real viral flu has this sudden onset of illness with a high fever, cough, chills, aching limbs and a sore throat,” says Redlberger-Fritz. “And the flu-like infections have an insidious onset with a lot of colds and only slightly elevated temperatures.” However: “Covid-19 is right in between, because it can cause all the symptoms.”
Immune system is not weakened
The fact that these diseases are now so common “simply has to do with the fact that the immune system has not come into contact with these viruses in recent years”. However, the immune system is not weakened, it was simply a lack of training against these viruses through regular contact, says Redlberger-Fritz: “Our immune system has not come into contact with these viruses in recent years and was not trained to develop so-called cross-protections establish.” That means: “Once you’ve gone through the infection, you have very good immunity against exactly the same virus or a slightly modified virus. The immune system is then boosted with the next infection without causing severe symptoms. This training just didn’t happen in the last few years.” General practitioner Rasinger emphasizes that the course of the disease with the common cold is not more severe or different than it used to be.