The flu breaks records Andalusia: its incidence has tripled in just one week. The municipality has exceeded the epidemic threshold for the seasonal virus with a rate of 33.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (the established threshold is … in 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). This data means that over the past week the rate has tripled to 10.5 cases per 100,000 people.
The Minister of Health, the Presidency and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, stressed yesterday regarding this balance that “we are facing a particularly virulent season of respiratory infections”, which is why he stressed that the Andalusian government “We will continue to take all measures at our disposal to strengthen surveillance and control of this influenza epidemic that we are already experiencing in the community.”
Thus, the advisor recalled that, in accordance with the provisions of the decree which entered into force on Monday of last week, “the use of the mask is recommended in all health and socio-sanitary centers of the autonomous community, public and private, in addition to the fact that the use of the mask is obligatory in the centers which have activated their mask at least three times. High frequency package in the last 7 days and the incidence rate in your district has doubled (compared to the baseline incidence, i.e. between March and September).
To date, 1,719,316 people have received the flu vaccine in Andalusia
To date, 1,719,316 people have received the flu vaccine in Andalusia and 725,038 have been vaccinated against the flu. COVID-19(female
The health pressure exerted by the virulence of the flu is increasing in hospitals and health centers. Ia Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (Semes) alerted to this situation in a report published on December 5, which indicates that “hospital emergency departments continue to record a sustained increase in their activity, with an annual increase estimated between 5% and 7%, once again reaching record levels of care”.
Regarding how the Andalusian Autonomous Community experiences the onslaught of seasonal flu, he emphasizes that “the group of children between one and four years old is the one who suffers the most from seasonal flu.” virus», and indicates that the incidence is higher in girls than in boys.
Faster transmission speed
Furthermore, Semes argues that the increase in influenza is linked to the increase in variant K of influenza A, which has a much faster speed of transmission, “although it has not been proven that it is associated with greater severity of cases”.
This strain has been identified since last April in several countries in Europe as United Kingdom and is predominant in regions like Japan and Canada.
The K variant, according to some experts, manages to avoid much of the effect of the vaccine and has a greater transmission capacity, making it easier to spread between people.
“Each season’s vaccine is designed based on the variants that previously circulated in the other hemisphere, where it’s winter and we’re here in summer”
Juan José Aguilar Gavilan
Virologist
In this sense, the virologist Jose Juan Aguilar Gavilanretired professor of University of Cordoba (UCO), indicates in statements to this newspaper that “this type of situation (in reference to an influenza variant escaping the protection of the vaccine) must be controlled, because each season’s vaccine is designed based on the variants that previously circulated in the other hemisphere, where it is winter while we are here in summer.
“One of the keys – explains the specialist – to reach the conclusion of the vaccine is antigenic drift, which is based on the fact that the virus mutates but does very little.”
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