![Does Covid-19 extinguish other viruses?](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2020-12-17/i98235-.jpeg)
Usually they are already there, but this year there were no outbreaks of influenza, bronchiolitis or gastroenteritis.
No epidemic declared during the austral winter
Before arriving here, winter diseases break out in the southern hemisphere, during the southern winter. But this year there has been no epidemic.
“This summer, there should have been epidemics of influenza viruses in the southern hemisphere, except there have been none in the world, including the flu. There have only been a handful of cases of influenza viruses. This is completely new: it had never happened since we monitored the flu. And this does not only concern influenza viruses, but other diseases like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes bronchiolitis in toddlers. There was no such thing this summer, nor meningitis. We can see it in France: the viruses that are traditionally found in winter are absent, ”says Vincent Enouf, virologist and deputy director of the National Reference Center (CNR) for viruses of respiratory infections, interviewed by 20 minutes.
Barrier gestures and viral ecology as explanations
Since the start of the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic, many barrier gestures have been adopted, such as keeping your distance, wearing a mask or isolating yourself when you feel sick. Other good habits have been taken, such as washing your hands more often or applying hydroalcoholic gel regularly. These changes in our behavior inevitably had an impact on the spread of other viruses.
On the other hand, “viral ecology undoubtedly plays a role” explains Vincent Enouf who adds: “This results in a form of competition between viruses, which is difficult to explain in terms of causes, but which is observed. very concretely at the moment ”.