• Question: Can you have 2 different viruses at the same time?

    Asked by anon-256951 on 16 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Sarah Montgomery

      Sarah Montgomery answered on 16 Jun 2020:

      yes, unfortunately! One example would be catching flu while being HIV-positive, which is very possible. You can actually be more likely to get a bacterial lung infection once your lung cells have been damaged by a virus, which is why some people with bad cases of flu end up getting the bacterial infection pneumonia as well.

    • Photo: Alex Holmes

      Alex Holmes answered on 16 Jun 2020:

      Hi Ingrid, yes you can – actually some diseases make it more likely that you’ll catch others or make other infections worse. For example you might have heard of HIV, this virus affects the immune system and can cause a disease called AIDS which stops the immune system working properly and means someone is more likely to be at risk from other infections.

    • Photo: Rachel Tanner

      Rachel Tanner answered on 22 Jun 2020:

      Hi Ingrid, great question! Lots of viruses cause what we call ‘chronic’ infections, where they stay around in your body after the initial infection, and might sometimes pop up and cause symptoms again years or decades later. These include things like herpes, EBV (which causes glandular fever), and a virus called CMV. Lots of people are infected with these, and can still get infected with additional viruses like the common cold and flu.

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