Obesity increases a person’s risk for severe complications from influenza, including hospitalization and even death. It may also play a role in how flu spreads, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. The findings suggest that obese adults infected with flu shed the virus for a longer time than adults who are not obese, potentially increasing the opportunity for the infection to spread to others.
Obesity increases a person’s risk for severe complications from influenza, including hospitalization and even death. It may also play a role in how flu spreads, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. The findings suggest that obese adults infected with flu shed the virus for a longer time than adults who are not obese, potentially increasing the opportunity for the infection to spread to others.
“This is the first real evidence that obesity might impact more than just disease severity,” said senior study author Aubree Gordon, MPH, PhD, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “It might directly impact transmission as well.”
Analyzing data collected from approximately 1,800 people in 320 households in Managua, Nicaragua, researchers investigated the effect of obesity on the duration of viral shedding over three influenza seasons from 2015 to 2017. Obese adults with flu symptoms and laboratory-confirmed influenza shed influenza A virus for 42 percent longer than adults with flu who were not obese. Among obese individuals infected with flu who were only mildly ill or had no symptoms, the difference was even greater: These obese adults shed influenza A virus for 104 percent longer than non-obese adults with flu.
The duration of viral shedding was determined by tests of nose and throat samples, which detected the presence of influenza virus RNA but did not indicate whether the viruses were infectious. Additional research, now underway, will help determine if the flu virus shed for longer periods by obese individuals is indeed infectious and can spread the illness to others, Dr. Gordon said.
Read more at Infectious Diseases Society of America
Photo Credit: Mojpe via Pixabay
