Professor Luke O’Neill, an immunologist at Trinity College Dublin, predicts that Covid-19 may evolve into a milder disease similar to the common cold. He draws parallels to the 19th-century OC43 virus, which caused a pandemic resembling Covid-19 but is now a common cold strain. While the pandemic is largely over, experts continue to monitor Covid-19 levels in wastewater and emphasize that vulnerable populations remain at risk.
An expert immunologist said the deadly pandemic virus Covid-19 could eventually become just another strain of the common cold .
He added: "That was a virus called OC43 that now affects us as the common cold. It could happen that Covid is going to head in that direction. Turning into another virus that infects is where this seems to be going. But we need to see more evidence." Prof O’Neill said: "It’s amazing that five years have gone by, but the science hasn’t stopped. We are still studying it in various ways. Mercifully, the pandemic is all but gone, and it has got less troublesome, there is no question about that. If you are in hospital now with a respiratory illness, only 10 per cent is Covid. The rest are flu cases etc."
Prof O’Neill said on RTE Radio 1: "The coronavirus and influenza are very different. How our immune systems are affected is different. Covid has mutated over time but our immune systems are doing their job, with the vaccines. For the vast majority of people, their immune system does the job, and you don’t even know that you have it."
COVID-19 PANDEMIC COMMON COLD VIRUS IMMUNE SYSTEM
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