Infections of flu They continue to increase for another week, although during the second week of December they increased less than during the first seven days of the month, when the incidence doubled. The situation is complicated in hospitalswhere doctors warned of a “notable increase in health pressure” and income increases especially among the oldest and youngest. According to the latest epidemiological report on respiratory diseases from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), published on Thursday, the incidence rate of influenza in primary care increased between December 8 and 14, from 166.6 to 195.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while income increased from 7.7 to 9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants And They exceed last season’s maximum, which stood at 7.3 cases in the second week of January..
The ISCIII weekly update includes this Thursday as the children between one and four years old These are the ones that continue to concentrate the highest transmission rates. More precisely, at the community level, the incidence of influenza has increased in this age group from 515.6 to 651 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. However, this growth slowed last week. Seven days ago, the graph drew a steep, nearly vertical line that reflected the rise from 214.2 to 515.6 cases per 100,000 population during the first week of December.
At the hospital level, people over 80 are the most affected. In this age group, the admission rate increased during the second week of December – the last week analyzed – from 47.5 to 56.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. They are followed by babies under one year oldamong which the hospitalization rate doubled, from 22.8 to 48.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The third age group that suffers the most from clinical complications of influenza is those aged 70 to 79, among whom the admission rate stands at 24.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 21.3 the previous week.
In terms of severity, since the start of the season, cases hospitalized for influenza have increased. 19.5% pneumonia, 4.3% intensive care admissions and 4.1% deathsaccording to the report. The most frequent flu symptoms so far are, according to data collected by the Carlos III Health Institute, cough (in 85.5% of cases) and the fever (in 84.1% of cases), followed by general malaise (78.3%), nasal congestion (70.9%) and sore throat (61.6%).
The percentages of positivity for influenza, taken from tests carried out in the sentinel network of health centers and hospitals, also continues to grow. In primary care, it is located in the 55.2% (while the previous week it was 41.8%) and in hospitals it is 42% (compared to 37.8% the previous week).
The flu epidemic, which has a “medium” level of transmission but which arrived a month earlier, has once again put a strain on hospital services, which in many communities are already stressed or saturated by the demand for seriously ill flu patients. The Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES) has warned that “the confluence of influenza A, RSV and decompensation in chronic patients causes a notable increase in health pressurewith days of collapse in some hospitals and difficulties in availability of hospital beds.
Its vice president, Dr. Javier Millán, said in a statement that “we are already in a very complex situation in many emergency departments, with saturated waiting rooms, long delays and patients waiting for a hospital bed“, while emphasizing the need to urgently activate contingency plans, strengthen staffing levels and guarantee the availability of beds to avoid the collapse of the system.
This situation also occurs in the middle of an open conflict between the staff of the National Health System and the Ministry of Health over the proposed reform of the Framework Statute which governs their working conditions, under negotiation for three years. This week, the unions in the bargaining zone – SATSE-FSES, FSS-CCOO, UGT, CSIF and CIG-Saúde – reached a “prior agreement” to cancel the strike summoned for an indefinite period every Tuesday from January 27 for all SNS staff. However, the CESM and SMA medical unions did not join it and they are maintaining their strikes called for January 14 and 15, but only for doctors, who are demanding their own framework statute which covers the specificities of the medical profession (on-call, breaks, retirement, etc.).
General reduction of respiratory infections
At the syndromic level, the general rate which includes the respiratory infections monitored in this report (flu, covid and RSV causing bronchiolitis), has decreased at the national level and is located in the 809 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 845.1 cases the previous week).
The rate of covid-19 is 3.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 4.2 the previous week), while the rate of bronchitis and bronchiolitis in children under 5 years old stands at 461.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, since last week they stood at 411.9 cases. Concerning the positivity percentages, 0.5% of the tests carried out consequently showed infection with SARS-CoV-2 (compared to 1.3% the previous week) and the 5.6% tested positive for RSV (3.7% the previous week).
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