Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Europe is now facing a new threat, namely the return of influenza or flu. Occurring at the same time as the Covid-19 pandemic, the continent will experience a ‘twindemic’ or twin pandemics.
Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports that since mid-December 2021, the flu virus has been circulating in Europe at higher-than-expected levels.
In December, the number of flu cases in European intensive care units (ICUs) rose steadily to a peak of 43 in the last week of the year, according to ECDC and World Health Organization (WHO) data.
This number is well below pre-pandemic levels, where weekly flu cases in the ICU peaked at more than 400 at the same stage in 2018. This is also a big increase compared to 2020, where there was only one case of flu in the ICU throughout December.
“A twindemic can put undue stress on an already overwhelmed health system,” the ECDC said in its report.
ECDC’s lead expert on influenza Pasi Penttinen said the return of the virus could be the start of an unusually long flu season that could continue into the summer.
“If we start lifting all measures, the big concern I have for influenza is, because we’ve had almost no circulation in European populations for so long, maybe we’ll move away from normal seasonal patterns,” he said. 1/2022).
Penttinen said breaking rules or restrictive measures in the spring could extend flu circulation well beyond the normal end of the European season in May.
On the other hand, the dominant flu strain circulating this year is the H3 of the A virus, which usually causes the most severe cases among the elderly.
Penttinen said it was too early to make a final assessment of the flu vaccine as more sick patients were needed for real-world analysis. But laboratory tests show the vaccine available this year will not be optimal against H3.
Vaccines Europe, which represents the top vaccine makers in the region, admits train selection has been made more difficult by last year’s extremely low flu circulation, but there is not yet enough data to rate the effectiveness of this season’s injections.
Three regions of France, including the Paris region, are facing flu epidemics, according to data published by the French health ministry last week. Others are in the pre-epidemic phase. This season, France has so far recorded 72 serious flu cases, with six deaths.
(tfa/roy)
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