The coordinator of the National Program for the Prevention of Seasonal Influenza, Samir Mokrani, declared, Monday, February 10, that Tunisia records yearly seasonal infections caused by the virus “A”, which splits into two categories, “H1N1” and the “H3N2 ″. This virus has been present in Tunisia for years and is considered among the viruses causing seasonal flu, with the difference that its symptoms are more severe than those of previous years.
Mokrani indicates that, according to the seasonal flu control system in Tunisia, the number of consultations related to symptoms of seasonal flu reached 14,654 out of a total of 393,229 consultations during the period between October and December 2019, representing a rate of 3.7% compared to 5.6% during the same period of 2018. He stressed that “this is not an epidemic episode, the rate of contamination not having reached the 7% threshold, beyond which, an epidemiological situation would be decreed ”.
Mokrani affirmed to this effect that last January had recorded “a peak of attack by the seasonal flu”, underlining that the number of consultations related to the flu during this period, reached 82,608 consultations, that is, 4, 9% of the total number of medical consultations. “The national reference laboratory for viral diagnosis at Charles Nicolle hospital had carried out analyzes on 259 samples, which confirmed 81 cases of seasonal influenza, including 54 cases infected with virus“ A ”and 27 cases of infections by influenza type “B”.
The coordinator of the national seasonal influenza prevention program revealed in this regard that the number of deaths linked to contamination by influenza A virus “H1N1” reached 5 deaths during the period between October 1 2019 until January 31, 2020, against 16 deaths during the same period of the past season.
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