AUTHOR=Staub Kaspar , Ballouz Tala , Puhan Milo 

TITLE=An Unwanted but Long-Known Company: Post-Viral Symptoms in the Context of Past Pandemics in Switzerland (and Beyond)

JOURNAL=Public Health Reviews

VOLUME=Volume 45 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/public-health-reviews/articles/10.3389/phrs.2024.1606966

DOI=10.3389/phrs.2024.1606966

ISSN=2107-6952

ABSTRACT=Objectives: Some people do not fully recover from an acute viral infection and experience persistent symptoms or incomplete recovery for months or even years. This is not unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and history shows that post-viral conditions like post COVID-19 condition, also referred to as Long Covid, are not new. In particular, during and after pandemics caused by respiratory viruses in which large parts of the population were infected or exposed, professional and public attention was high, not least because of the large number of people affected. Methods: Given the current relevance of the topic, this article aims to narratively review and summarize the literature on post-viral symptoms during past pandemics and to supplement and illustrate it with Swiss examples from the pandemics of 1890, 1918-1920 and later. Results and conclusion: In the next pandemic, it should not be surprising that post-viral conditions will again play a role and that pandemic plans will need to reflect this.