Mystery bugs: Why unknown viruses are hitting Melbourne hard

A Melbourne doctor says she’s seeing large numbers of patients who are testing negative to COVID-19 and a suite of other common respiratory viruses, but are still very ill.

Press PLAY below to hear where the ‘mystery viruses’ making us sick have likely come from

In the last week, 20 per cent of people tested at the Rosebud Respiratory Clinic have tested positive to COVID-19.

Another 15 per cent tested positive to other common viruses including influenza, parainfluenza, adenovirus and rhinovirus.

But Dr Sally Shaw, who runs the clinic, says 65 per cent of people who are very sick “come up negative, nothing”.

She thinks the impact of lockdowns is likely to blame.

“The current thesis about all this is that our antibodies have all run down in the last two years,” she told Neil Mitchell.

Dr Shaw says antibody levels for viruses that previously would not have made us unwell are now very low, so we’re getting sick.

“Maybe they’re not even that nasty but they’re keeping us from work, they’re keeping us from holidays,” she said.

Rosebud Respiratory Clinic is at 1079 Point Nepean Rd, Road. It’s open 8am-7pm Monday to Friday; 8.30am to 5pm on weekends.