04 January 202418:17
Increase in more serious forms of flu in younger patients, according to data from the Federation of Health Companies (Fiaso)
-afp
Hospitals and emergency rooms are under stress in these first days of the new year, but what is now especially worrying is the flu: hospitalizations from Covid, in fact, continue to fall while we are witnessing a increase in more serious forms of influenza accompanied by pneumonia even among younger subjects. However, the elderly and frail people remain at greatest risk for both infections, as they crowd emergency facilities often waiting for hospitalization. This is the picture that emerges from the data from the sentinel hospitals of the Federation of Health Companies (Fiaso) and which pushes infectious disease specialists to reiterate the importance of vaccinations even in this phase.
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The data on Covid The Covid hospitalization index is confirmed to be decreasing, Fiaso notes, with an overall -16% in the last week of 2023. And the numbers remain low in intensive care, even if there is a significant increase due to long-term repercussions of the trend of infections among the population in recent weeks. Patients have an average age of 68 years and in 93% of cases are already suffering from other pathologies.
The situation in pediatric hospitals Furthermore, the situation in pediatric hospitals is still stable, with a clear prevalence of children hospitalized for Covid, i.e. with respiratory syndromes attributable to SarsCov2 infection: one is in intensive care.
The impact of influenza viruses Covid at this stage “is giving way to the flu – explains the Fiaso president, Giovanni Migliore -.
Influenza viruses are having a greater impact in absolute terms, especially on the elderly and frail population who crowd the emergency rooms to deal with the consequences of respiratory problems”.
Furthermore, he notes, “even if 70% of ordinary hospitalizations are represented by Covid-positive patients who do not have a serious respiratory infection, these patients must still be isolated to prevent other fragile subjects from becoming infected. This situation contributes to complicating the hospital management, in this period in which, due to the flu, the demand for beds is increasing”.
Influence and young people But experts are also alarmed by the greater impact of heavy forms of influenza on the younger population. The flu this year “in fact seems to have a higher pathogenicity than other years and we are observing more hospitalizations for pneumonia in healthy and young patients. Some of these patients require hospitalization and in some cases also the use of intensive care”, explains Marco Falcone, director of the infectious diseases department at the Pisan university hospital.
Pneumonia caused by influenzafurthermore, “they tend to be complicated more frequently with bacterial superinfections, such as those caused by Staphylococcus aureus or Pneumococcus”. It is not yet clear whether these particularly severe forms are due to a decline in immunity to influenza viruses after two years of pandemic or to more aggressive viral variants.
Among the complications of the fluthen, doctors are also observing a form of exhaustion that continues for some time after the infection, similar to long-Covid.
As for the
Covidcases are occurring especially in fragile, immunosuppressed people, often without vaccination booster. Hence the invitation to get immunized: “Vaccination coverage this year has been unsatisfactory. There is a general refusal to the Covid vaccine which has also spread to the flu vaccine and which is now creating enormous problems for people unvaccinated elderly people”, warns Fausto De Michele, director of Pneumology Department 1 at the Cardarelli Hospital in Naples.
Precisely to encourage
vaccinationsOpen days are still planned in various regions. In Lazio, two new Open days for anti-Covid vaccination on 6 and 7 January. All people aged 18 and over will be able to access the facilities participating in the initiative without reservation. Further Open days on 20 and 21 January.
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2024-01-04 17:57:08
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