COVID Reactivates Deadliest Infectious Disease of All Time
Yes. Sadly the answer is yes. I will get into that in a minute. I am writing more like a blog tonight.
I have very weird dreams and I would not wish them on anyone. When I was having major problems with my health, I was sent for a plethora of exams... but one sheet remained that looked more like a pamphlet and the person doing the tests said, they didn't do the test there anyway and it was not a Doc request to do one ...so I ignored it. What was it you ask? A test for TB. So last night, my dream was that I had to to get a TB test... (I really hate going to Docs unless I am really sick, so this is not a good dream )
As I await her call back to see if she will authorize a test, I look to see why the other doc added that to the test papers... 'Tuberculosis can cause ocular morbidity, visual impairment and blindness. Prevention, early diagnosis and early treatment of TB may prevent avoidable visual loss.' Well damn. A vision anomaly was on the list and I had seen 3 specialists because it was not age related. But I am not worried. I have no severe coughing and I am definitely not wasting away. No problemo! But then, I also read that like the lung infection I had a long time ago... our immune system can harbour TB by encasing the bacteria in protective CD4 T cells. So you may have it but not know ... as it remains latent and you are not contagious. I had no idea...
IF you are also stunned by that ... this fellow will be happy to tell you all about it. I also found out that it is what was referred to as "consumption!" (And I was in Camille in college - ack!) Dummy me thought consumption was the flu! I really enjoyed learning more about what I thought i knew...*cough* It was also an interesting eye opener of a history lesson.
The Deadliest Infectious Disease of All Time | Crash Course Lecture
So of course, being curious I had to go there... because COVID has reactivated many latent viruses, like Epstein-Barr (EB) for instance. And also dengue (DENV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Herpes viridae virus including herpes simplex type 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), varicella zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpes virus 6, 7 (HHV 6, 7) and don't forget possibly dealing with sepsis and COVID pneumonia! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10131452/
And although it has been known since 2021, I will now add tuberculosis (TB) to the list...
Latent Tuberculosis Infection and COVID-19: Analysis of a Cohort of Patients from Careggi University Hospital (Florence, Italy) https://www.mdpi.com/2036-7449/15/6/68
COVID-19 has the potential to cause a disruption of the immune system which could predispose a patient to reactivation of LTBI. Studies have shown that defects or interference of the IFN-γ pathway can cause susceptibility to intracellular infections, including tuberculosis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10131452/
Steroids are also a culprit as are all immunosuppressants. "A respiratory viral infection increases the incidence of tuberculosis. The COVID-19 therapy protocol with corticosteroids causes immunosuppression. Latent tuberculosis infection could be activated after COVID-19 infection" And it can reactivate even as you are recovering from COVID... being the stress on the immune system gets to be too much. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9949802/
Viral persistence, reactivation, and mechanisms of long COVID
Having long COVID sucks enough... but the good news is that cutting the viral load with vaccines and if needed, Paxlovid, decrease your chances of all that bad stuff happening or coming back to haunt you as they also lessen the likelihood of a lengthy illness, hospitalization and more strain on the lungs and immune system so that you are susceptible to other illness. YAY!
It is all fascinating to me, but I do realize this might be scary for some. I have the benefit of age and a realization that I may go any time... and death doesn't scare me... however... living and not being able to see does. I will get the test if it is recommended.
And FYI, TB is still out there. Many of those who were being treated for it or lived in poor countries that do not make it available or affordable - died needlessly...
First of all, I do hope that anyone who read the original post reads this. I apologize for calling TB a virus. How I could have done that, I don't know, especially after having read about it for hours before writing this. (I know a lot of medical professionals used to be on here, so if any of you read that and could not sign on to correct me, I doubly apologize for your frustration) It is caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (TB) and I will partially blame my long COVID brain for that.
I also have not had it in the past, that I know of, but my sister in Arizona did. Arizona, once a mecca for the TB inflicted, is now one of the many remaining hotspots for the disease. TB was the leading cause of death in Europe and the US in the 1800s. and as there was no medicine or cure, dry climes like Arizona were recommended to rest, heal and reduce the symptoms of TB. That huge influx of people helped it to be recognized a a state! See the main post video for an interesting background on the social impact or read here: https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/road-trips/2020/05/11/arizona-tuberculosis-history-sunnyslope-sanatoriums-doc-holliday/3101543001/
It was easy to find pictures of the many sanatoriums, but the hovels and tent town, not so much... See the township of Sunnyslope for a lovely welcoming story that also helped the town flourish and grow in hard times. https://www.phoenixmag.com/2019/05/23/sunnyslope-owes-its-townhood-to-tuberculosis/
This paper is interesting because it reminds that the 2 diseases are very similar in many ways, and that may be why it may have been missed by so many doctors. Even though still very much active and killing people, very few docs will test for it. In Canada, there is a cost for it... borne by the patient and there is a test ordering policy under the scrutiny of the provincial health which may also prohibit a request. (which may be why the specialist added a sheet of paper rather than a test request)
COVID-19 and Tuberculosis: Unveiling the Dual Threat and Shared Solutions Perspective
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37510899/
Common symptoms and multi-organ involvement of COVID-19 and TB. (There are 3 more figures in the paper)