COVID SCIENCE UPDATES

Flu shot may offer some protection against COVID; Long-term problems in younger low-risk COVID-19 patients

Flu vaccines may help the body defend itself against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a Dutch study that found hospital workers who got a flu shot last winter were less likely to become infected with the new coronavirus.

In test tube experiments, the researchers saw that last winter's flu vaccine could prime healthy cells to respond more effectively not just to the flu, but also to the new coronavirus.

When they analyzed COVID-19 rates among staff at their hospital, they found the number of infections was 39% lower among those who had gotten a flu vaccine.

"These data, combined with similar recent independent reports, argue for a possible beneficial effect of influenza vaccination against both influenza and COVID-19," the researchers say.

"This could mean that the flu vaccine could offer partial protection against both infections this winter."

They posted their report on medRxiv on Friday ahead of peer review. "We thought it was important to publish these results already because the flu shot is made available to a large group of people," study leader Mihai Netea of Radboud University Medical Center said in a news release.

Long-term health problems seen in low-risk COVID-19 patients

Young, healthy adults with COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization are still at risk for long-term health problems, Oxford University researchers found.

They studied 201 recovering UK patients with an average age of 44, more than 90% of whom did not have risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease.

Only 18% had been sick enough to be hospitalized. At an average of 140 days after their symptoms began, 98% were still fatigued, 92% had heart and lung symptoms, 88% had muscle aches, 87% had breathlessness, 83% headaches, and 73% gastrointestinal symptoms.

Organ damage was more common among those who had been hospitalized. But it was not limited to that group as 66% of the patients had impairment of at least one organ.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed mild damage to lungs in 33%, heart in 32%, pancreas in 17%, kidneys in 12%, liver in 10% and spleen in 6%.

The researchers say their study, posted on Friday on medRxiv ahead of peer review, cannot prove the virus caused these later issues. But it does suggest long-term monitoring of organ function will be necessary even in relatively low-risk patients. -- Reuters