RESIDUAL PANDEMIC

There is a huge number of people who have defeated COVID-19, but continue to suffer its debilitating long-term effects RAVLEEN KAUR IN SURAT, GUJARAT

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RAVLEEN KAUR IN SURAT, GUJARAT

PRIYA RANJAN SAHU IN BHUBANESWAR, ODISHA

SANSKRITA BHARADWAJ IN GUWAHATI, ASSAM

MEGHA PRAKASH IN DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND

G RAM MOHAN IN TIRUPATI, ANDHRA PRADESH

MOHD IMRAN KHAN IN PATNA, BIHAR

GAJANAN KHERGAMKER IN MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA

KA SHAJI IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA

Back in 2009, Anthony S Fauci, immunologist and chief medical advisor to the US president, wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine: “We are living in a pandemic era that began around 1918 [the 1918-20 influenza pandemic].” The paper Fauci co-authored with two other influenza experts analysed all the pandemics—in 1957, 1968 and 2009—and seasonal epidemics caused by the influenza virus since then. It shows that the 1918 virus has persisted in humans for nearly a century and has been evolving, with its descendants and lineages inflicting huge economic and health costs on millions.

The world fears a repeat of the past. Will the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 also linger on?