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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Ukraine, a respiratory illness is spreading that by its symptoms does not resemble either the flu or COVID-19. This was stated by a Lviv-based doctor who did not provide any studies or official data to support his words, and his statement has already sparked panic. The Ministry of Health and the Center for Public Health have not registered any new dangerous viruses at this time. The symptoms that the doctor calls “incomprehensible” have long been described by medicine as manifestations of a common acute respiratory infection (ARI).
A post about allegedly new infection that is spreading across Ukraine was published on Facebook 25 by September by Taras Zhiryavetskyi, chief physician of the medical center “Biokurs” in Lviv, a therapist, urologist, and andrologist. The doctor wrote that a new infection is currently “spreading across Ukraine, which we cannot identify, but this is not COVID and not the flu.”
According to him, the disease initially resembles an allergy: fever stays around 37,1, a stuffy nose, and after a few days a cough, weakness, and fatigue join in. He also suggested that on the third to fourth day a bacterial infection may occur.
“The symptoms resemble an allergy,” wrote Taras Zhiryavetskyi.
Under his own post about the “mysterious virus,” the doctor in the comments simultaneously offers readers promo codes for discounted tests, including at the “Biokurs” he leads. In other words, a message about a supposedly dangerous disease was accompanied by a commercial offer to take paid tests at his own clinic.
The Ministry of Health and the Center for Public Health know nothing about a new virus.
At the same time, there are currently no official statements from the Ministry of Health or the Center for Public Health about a new virus appearing in Ukraine. State authorities clearly note which viruses are circulating in Ukraine: according to the latest publicly released epidemiological surveillance data, these are SARS-CoV-2, parainfluenza, adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, and the respiratory syncytial virus. There is not a single new unidentified pathogen in this list.
The symptoms the doctor described as unusual — subfebrile temperature 37,1°C, nasal congestion, weakness and cough after several days — are classic manifestations of an ordinary cold known to medicine for decades. The Center for Public Health emphasizes that influenza and the common cold are viral illnesses that do not always involve bacterial infection, and antibiotics are prescribed only in truly severe cases when the clinician is confident in a bacterial nature of the illness. Creating a aura of a “mysterious disease” without any evidence only sows panic among the population.
Criticism and advice on treatment are also not withstand.
Similar warnings apply to the doctor’s public advice regarding self-determination of the need for antibiotics based on blood tests, IgE, CRP, and ferritin. Evidence-based medicine emphasizes that antibiotics are not needed for ARI or the flu; they do not reduce fever or ease the course of a viral infection. According to the Center for Public Health, almost 64% of Ukrainians mistakenly believe that flu and cold can be treated with antibiotics, which leads to widespread and unwarranted antibiotic overuse.
The decision to prescribe an antibiotic is solely the competence of the physician who has examined the patient in person, not the result of independent interpretation of individual laboratory indicators based on advice from social networks. Elevated CRP or low iron levels by themselves are not grounds for antibiotic therapy without a comprehensive clinical assessment of the patient’s condition.
Earlier, Informer reported that a infectious disease doctor claimed a link between vaccines and oncology, although she did not provide any specific studies or names of particular vaccines. Scientific reviews, including in the journal Oncotarget, do not confirm a causal link between vaccination and tumor development. We also wrote that doctor Yevhen Komarovskyi criticized the popular folk method of fighting a cold — soaking feet in hot water with mustard — noting that this procedure has no therapeutic effect on a virus and only risks burns.
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