Experts warn that the U.S. is headed for a ‘syndemic’ this winter
Medical experts are warning that the U.S. could face a “syndemic” winter as respiratory viruses surge and temperatures plunge.
A syndemic is not unlike the “tripledemics” that health-care systems have grappled with the past two winters — when multiple pathogens, like COVID-19, RSV and the flu converge in a population. A syndemic, however, considers how interacting epidemics have increasingly adverse effects on communities that face systemic and structural inequities.
Raj Rajnarayanan, assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Ark., told Fortune in a recent interview that the United States is a “sitting duck” when it comes to the threat of a syndemic.
So far, in Canada and the U.S., respiratory viruses are on the rise as cold and flu season ramps up, but it’s difficult to predict just how bad the season will get and how it will compare to previous years.
In the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) latest FluWatch Report, ending Nov. 25, they said that illness activity remains “within expected levels typical of this time of year.”
The report, which includes PHAC’s flu numbers from Aug. 27 to Nov. 25, says there have been 7,594 reported cases of influenza across Canada, 97 per cent of which were from influenza A.
Global News has reached out to PHAC for additional information but did not hear back by publication time.
Last year’s flu season — which typically runs from November to March in Canada — saw much higher numbers by this time, with a surge of COVID, RSV and flu viruses across the country, especially among children.
While RSV and the flu typically emerge later in the fall and winter seasons, both surged early in the 2022-2023 season, meaning all
Read more on globalnews.ca
