The flu is at least a week at cabbage. Fever, cough, fatigue … The large number of French people this winter. An still unbridled epidemic despite a “deceleration in France”, according to a France France published on Wednesday, February 5.
But the details of this seasonal disease allow them to get sick several times of this same “flu”, as explained by several BFMTV experts.
“If you are not lucky, yes, it is perfectly possible,” Bruno Lina, a professor of Virology at Lyon Chu, head of the National Reference Center for Respiratory Viruses and Covars Member, begins with a humor.
To understand it, you first need a reminder. There is no “flu” but several strains: A (H1N1), A (H3N2) and B/Victoria. However, this year, these three viruses circulate at the same time in adults and children.
“We can catch it several times, often not with the same tension, but as there are several strains that actually circulate, we can catch it several times,” Stéphane Paul agrees, a professor of immunology at the Saint-Etienne Chu.
A matter of probability and immunity?
The consensus that arises is that, in theory, yes, it is possible to develop the disease twice during the season. But nuances are brought. First, the question of immunity.
“In general, we have already been infected in the past and we are protected from viruses (flu, editor’s note), so we generally catch only once the flu per season,” Professor Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, doctor of the doctor, doctor, doctor matifies Henri Mondor Hospital in Créteil, a vaccination specialist.
For Bruno Lina, the phenomena of multiple infections really refer more to children for this reason, since they are less likely to have developed immunity for one of the strains.
“Those with whom we observe more frequently (multiple infections, editor’s note) are children because they are very exposed because the virus circulates a lot in children and the second is that they have an immunity that is not yet very built around the viruses of the flu .
To these immune questions the great chance game is added. If all the requested experts agree that it is very possible to catch the disease several times, as an adult, the probability remains low. The best parades are still vaccination and barrier gestures, instead of playing with their fate.
Source: BFM TV
