During the past two winters, the use of face masks, avoidance of crowds, and other measures to prevent COVID-19 resulted in a dramatic downturn in the infection numbers for many common winter respiratory viruses, including the flu. But all indications are that this winter in the Northern Hemisphere will be different. The number of flu infections is going up, and according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current hospitalization rate for the disease in the US is higher than it has been at this time of the year in the past decade. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections are currently also on the rise.
These trends, together with the continued COVID-19 pandemic, have triggered predictions of a “tripledemic” this winter in which communities are buffeted by outbreaks of multiple respiratory viruses simultaneously. What happens if, in this pathogenic soup, more than one virus infects an individual ...
