Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore

Spinney, Laura

doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00414-x

COMMENT
16 February 2022

Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore

Influenza, polio and more have shown that infections can change lives even decades later. Why the complacency over possible long-term effects of COVID-19?

Laura Spinney⁰

Laura Spinney
1. Laura Spinney is the author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. She writes about science, medicine and history from Paris.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

When Ashley Shew turned up for an appointment at a medical centre in spring 2020, a member of staff told her she could remove her mask because only people with pre-existing conditions were vulnerable to COVID-19. Shew was surprised. “A hard-of-hearing amputee battered by chemotherapy and more”, as she describes herself, she is a regular at the centre — the appointment that day concerned her prosthetic leg. Who, she wondered, did the staff member think counted as a person with pre-existing conditions?

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 602, 383-385 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00414-x

References

Chen, C. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.15.21266377 (2021).
Henry, J., Smeyne, R. J., Jang, H., Miller, B. & Okun, M. S. Parkinsonism Related Dis. 16, 566–571 (2010).
Article Google Scholar
Elkind, M. S. V. et al. Stroke 42, 1851–1856 (2011).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Bjornevik, K. et al. Science 375, 296–301 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Etard, J.-F. et al. Lancet Infect. Dis. 17, 545–552 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Li Hi Shing, S. et al. Front. Neurol. 10, 773 (2019).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Locker, D. & Kaufert, J. Sociol. Health Illness 10, 23–40 (1988).
Article Google Scholar
Pagel, C. & Yates, C. A. Science 374, 403–404 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Davis, H. E. et al. eClinicalMedicine 38, 101019 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Taquet, M., Geddes, J. R., Husain, M., Luciano, S. & Harrison, P. J. Lancet Psychiatry 8, 416–427 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Xie, Y., Xu, E., Bowe, B. & Al-Aly, Z. Nature Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01689-3 (2022).
Article Google Scholar
Groff, D. et al. JAMA Netw. Open. 4, e2128568 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Briggs, A. & Vassall, A. Nature 593, 502–505 (2021)
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Smith, M. P. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 142, 54–59 (2022).
Article Google Scholar
Spudich, S. & Nath, A. Science 375, 267–269 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Khan, M. et al. Cell 184, 5932–5949 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Song, E. et al. J. Exp. Med. 218, e20202135 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Shabani, Z. Acta Neurol. Belg. 121, 859–866 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Smeyne, R. J., Noyce, A. J., Byrne, M., Savica, R. & Marras, C. J. Parkinson’s Dis. 11, 31–43 (2021).
Article Google Scholar