UK health: Long Colds are just as common as Long Covid researchers say

Long colds can affect people just like Long Covid can, with some people experiencing symptoms long after the initial infection, a UK study has found. 

The study looked at 10,171 adults who completed questionnaires which asked people to report any respiratory illness and other symptoms they had in the first two months of 2021 - when the Covid pandemic was entering its second year and vaccines were starting to be rolled out but all participants were yet to have their Covid jab.

The study, led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), was published in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine journal. Out of the 10,171 in the study, 1,343 said they had recently caught Covid and 472 said they had been infected with another respiratory virus, such as flu or a cold. 

Not everyone recovering from a bout of illness had persistent or new symptoms but compared to those who had no recent respiratory illness, those who said they had Covid or flu or a cold in the weeks before were more likely to experience certain symptoms in the month or so after.

Those symptoms included:

• diarrhoea
• stomach problems
• muscle or joint pain
• sleep problems
• memory problems/difficulty concentrating
• dizziness/feeling lightheaded
• coughing

Participants who recently had Covid were more likely to report problems with smell and taste, brain fog, dizziness and sweating than people who had prolonged symptoms after a cold or flu.

Lead researcher Giulia Vivaldi, from Queen Mary University of London, said: "Our findings shine a light not only on the impact of long Covid on people's lives, but also other respiratory infections. A lack of awareness, or even the lack of a common term, prevents both reporting and diagnosis of these conditions.

"As research into long Covid continues, we need to take the opportunity to investigate and consider the lasting effects of other acute respiratory infections.

"These 'long' infections are so difficult to diagnose and treat, primarily because of a lack of diagnostic tests and there being so many possible symptoms. There have been more than 200 investigated for long Covid alone."

Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine, at Imperial College London, said: "The study is important in showing that recovery from an acute respiratory infection may be slow regardless of cause, that people should expect a slow return to normality and not expect to immediately return to full activities.