Flu season has begun – DN.SE

Between weeks 47 and 48, the number of influenza cases doubles, and according to the Public Health Agency, the spread of infection is now so great that there is a national epidemic.

– The number of positive samples has increased and now we have passed the value where we define the spread of infection as an epidemic. In Norland, we’re seeing most cases right now, Anasara Carnahan, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency, tells DN.

There are four types of seasonal influenza. influenza A and B

– may come to change. But so far there are about fifty years between the two A variants, says Anasara Carnahan.

These two variants are designated A (H1N1) pdm09 and A (H3N2) respectively, the former being the same virus that caused the swine flu pandemic in 2009, while the latter has its origins in the so-called Hong Kong flu that swept the region. The world in the 1968 pandemic.

H1N1 is usually better for the elderly, because it is similar to the virus that circulated in the years after the Spanish flu and that many elderly people were exposed to when they were children or young adults. On the other hand, H3N2 hits the elderly harder, Anasara Karnahan says.

Presumably, she says, more people are susceptible to influenza now than before, because several years ago it was a convenient spread of infection. If you are aged 65 or over or alternatively belong to an at-risk group, you should get vaccinated, says the Public Health Agency.

– It’s really time. It’s still early in the season, Anasara Carnahan says, but we already have five patients in the ICU with the flu.

Except for the flu The care combats two other respiratory infections that can also cause severe illness. It is partly RS virus, which affects above all young children and the frail elderly, and partly covid-19, as the infection is now also increasing in prevalence.

The RS season started unusually early this year, resulting in the number of hospitalizations continuing to rise, while for the first time in a long time there is a clear increase in the number of people being hospitalized due to COVID-19. For example, the Academic Hospital in Uppsala moved to staff mode last Thursday due to the spread of infection.

– As the spread of infection increases, more people become ill, which in turn leads to an increase in the number of seriously ill patients. There has been a delay since the increase in cases, Anasara Karnahan says, but we are now starting to see more people being treated in hospital for COVID-19.

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