{"id":225678,"date":"2021-01-21T08:18:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T08:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=225678"},"modified":"2021-01-24T08:54:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T08:54:53","slug":"gps-in-england-see-big-drop-in-common-cold-and-flu-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=225678","title":{"rendered":"GPs in England see big drop in common cold and flu cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u2013 Jan 20, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Covid-19 shares many symptoms similar to those of seasonal cold and flu. The BBC even posted an article<\/a><\/span> to help readers to distinguish between colds and flu and coronavirus.<\/h4>\n

So although the following article doesn\u2019t say as much, it is entirely possible that the big drop in seasonal colds and flu is due to them being misdiagnosed as Covid-19. So could it be that Covid-19 is merely a varient of seasonal cold and flu that we see every so often: like Hong Kong Flu<\/span><\/a> or H1N1<\/a><\/span>?<\/h4>\n

If that is indeed the case — and they do indeed exhibit many of the the same symptoms<\/span><\/a> — why have governments around the world reacted as one, with such extreme measures like mandatory lockdowns? After all this has never happened before. So why now?<\/h4>\n

Or is Covid-19 simply being used as a pretext to wheel in an authoritarian, global government? Ed.<\/h4>\n

GPs in England see big drop in common cold and flu cases<\/h2>\n

Linda Geddes \u2013 The Guardian Jan 10, 2021<\/h3>\n

GPs in England<\/a> have reported a big drop in cases of influenza, colds and other common infections \u2013 with cold rates now about a quarter of the five-year average, and flu at about a 20th of the usual level for this time of year.<\/p>\n

Social restrictions brought in to curb transmission of coronavirus combined with an increased uptake of flu vaccine is the most likely explanation, experts say.<\/p>\n

Surveillance data gathered during the southern hemisphere\u2019s flu season had suggested the UK might expect to see a drop in the incidence of flu<\/a> this winter. However, the scale of the drop in England is surprising given that children attended school and limited social mixing was permitted until the introduction of a full lockdown on 4 January.<\/p>\n

The data is derived from patient reports of illness at up to 500 GP practices across England gathered by the Royal College of GPs\u2019 (RCGP) research and surveillance centre<\/a>. \u201cWe record whatever symptoms people consult with and these are sent on to the research and surveillance centre,\u201d said Azeem Majeed, a professor of primary care and public health at Imperial College London and a GP.<\/p>\n

During December, rates of common cold symptoms reported to GPs<\/a> were 0.3-1.2 per 100,000 persons, while for influenza-like illness this was 0.5-1.3 per 100,000 persons \u2013 well below the five-year average for this time of year. The incidence of other common infections including intestinal disease, strep sore throat and inner ear infections (often linked to respiratory illness) is also well below the five-year average, and may similarly reflect increased hand hygiene and decreased social mixing.<\/p>\n

Equivalent data for Wales and Scotland was not immediately accessible, but is likely to show a similar pattern given that similar restrictions on movement and social mixing have been imposed there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is real and reflects two things: overwhelmingly the main thing is that social distancing and lockdown measures dramatically reduce the transmission of cold, influenza and other respiratory viruses,\u201d said Paul Little, a professor of primary care research at the University of Southampton. \u201cThere may be a smaller secondary effect in that people may be contacting their GP less with \u2018normal\u2019 cold and coughs \u2013 but that cannot possibly explain the huge differences observed. Similar trends were seen in Australia with their flu season \u2013 which basically did not happen there either<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has also been a reduction in hospital admissions for flu, Majeed added.<\/p>\n

Another factor that may have contributed is increased uptake of the flu vaccine. \u201cThere has been an excellent take-up this year, with a record 77% of over-65s coming forward for their jab, which will be offering them protection from the flu,\u201d said Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the RCGP. \u201cThis is something general practice teams should be hugely proud of given the additional pressures under which they are delivering the expanded flu vaccination programme this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlu can be a nasty illness and as we start to come in contact with people again \u2013 even following social distancing measures \u2013 it\u2019s important that people maintain good hygiene. We\u2019d also urge anyone who is eligible for the flu vaccine \u2013 now including 50-to 64-year-olds \u2013 to come forward for their jab. This is the best protection we have against flu and vaccines only work if people have them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could this be because many cases of seasonal cold and flu are now being misdiagnosed Covid-19?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":203427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=225678"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225690,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225678\/revisions\/225690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/203427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}