• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

Could the ordinary flu disappear with corona?


Peacekeeper

Skilled Investigator
I just had this thought but couldn't find a straight answer on the internet.

What do you think, if corona get's stopped, will the flu cease as well?
 
One would think the lockdowns would stop both kinds of contagious diseases, as well as a great many more. However I'm not sure the lockdowns are effective against the spread. A lot of times it spreads in people's homes. And states without lockdowns don't all have higher rates of infection. Plus, infection makes people immune. Most people who get infected don't hardly even get sick, but it creates more dead ends for the virus to run up against (herd immunity). Now the WHO is praising Sweden, when before they were thought of as fools.
 
No. Covid19 is from the same family as the common cold. Influenza is a different family of virus and no I don’t think the common cold will disappear if a covid19 vaccine is found. Interesting that no vaccine for malaria has been found after 13 years of hard research and how many years of looking for a vaccine for the common cold ? I’d be wary of a covid19 vaccine if it were rushed out within a couple of years.
 
"do you think, if corona get's stopped, will the flu cease as well?"

Corona most likely won't "get stopped" just because everyone stays home for a while. Nothing about Covid19 is going to "cease". Similarly, the flu won't just disappear because everyone stays at home. Although its uncertain with Covid19, many of these viruses can live dormant inside people, only to re-emerge when the conditions are suitable. Think AIDS. Think viruses like Herpes which are with someone for life, only re-emerging during times of stress or low immunity. Hence the "don't catch cold" saying.. Yes you can literally become ill with the "a cold" without directly catching it from someone every time. If its already in your system, and your immunity runs low, it will flare up. So by staying at home we're probably not "stopping" the actual Covid virus from existing. It won't all just die out and become extinct. It is with us now. The question is whether we can learn to TREAT it. By staying at home and social distancing we're just slowing down its spread, to enable health services to avoid getting overwhelmed while a vaccine and/or other treatments are developed. No scientist is claiming it will go away, stop, cease. None of those words are being used for a reason.

"I’d be wary of a covid19 vaccine if it were rushed out within a couple of years."

Apparently Covid19 is indeed very similar to the common cold but different in some very specific ways which mean while the common cold has indeed been elusive the chances of a Covid19 vaccine are significantly more promising. I'm no expert so I'd recommend this series of podcasts by this well known couple who specialize in evolutionary biology. They explain the vaccine issue among many other pertinent facets:
 
I just had this thought but couldn't find a straight answer on the internet.

What do you think, if corona get's stopped, will the flu cease as well?
No and the reasoning is quite simple. Every year flu vaccines are created for the expected strains of flu. Different strains come and go and strains modify themselves or mutate into new strains. Coronavirus will not kill other viruses. It is just one of many viruses. There are at least 320,000 different viruses. Some viruses have not been active in the world for tens of thousands of years but they are know to scientists. Science Magazine reported in 2017 that they found 15,000-year-old viruses in melted glaciers in Tibet. This included 28 new viral groups. This pandemic is not the last we will see of devastating viruses. Unfortunately, viruses will always be our nemesis.
 
Back
Top