The rise in cases of a respiratory virus in China have raised concerns reminiscent of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, which began nearly five years ago. However, experts assure that despite the similarities, the current situation is very different and less alarming. The virus causing the infections in China is identified as human metapneumovirus (HMPV). It has now spread to India, bringing the total number of cases here to seven. Meanwhile, reports indicate that the US and UK are facing a “quad-demic,” with four different viruses spreading simultaneously, placing significant pressure on healthcare services.
According to Fortune magazine, flu, Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus are making their winter rounds in the United States, and you may have heard the term “quad-demic” pop up online or in conversation (the first three are sometimes called a “triple-demic”). While the unofficial term for the four maladies circulating in tandem evokes a sense of impending doom, the quadruple threat isn’t so different from respiratory virus seasons past.
“All of the viruses are here; it’s just they’re affecting different areas a little bit differently,” Dr Robert Hopkins Jr, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, tells Fortune. “I don’t want to panic people, but I would say if you haven’t been vaccinated and you’re eligible for vaccination-that means everybody 6 months of age and older-get that Covid shot, get that flu shot.”
Sky News also reported that four illnesses are circulating in the UK this winter in what has been dubbed the “quad-demic.” NHS leaders have issued a warning that cases of flu, norovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are increasing, with a rise in Covid-19 also expected. Data released by the health body showed an average of 1,861 patients with flu were in the hospital every day in the first week of December-a 70% increase from the previous week when there were 1,099 patients. The number was also 3.5 times higher than the same time last year.
Norovirus (the winter vomiting bug) and RSV (a common cause of a type of chest infection in babies) are also on the rise. Cases of norovirus were up 10% on the previous week and 64% on last year, while 152 children were in the hospital with RSV each day-up from 107 this time in 2023.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, told Sky News: “The tidal wave of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really concerning for patients and for the NHS-the figures are adding to our ‘quad-demic’ worries.”
What is the ‘quad-demic’?
The term “quad-demic” refers to the “four very common viral illnesses that circulate every winter in different peaks,” Dr David Lloyd, an NHS GP, told Sky News Breakfast last month. The risk and complication rate of people catching all four of these illnesses at once heightens at this time of the year, hence the term, he added.