The Christmas holidays bring quality time with family and friends, but also trigger a series of respiratory infections in the Murcia region, including influenza A. In the last week of 2023, primary care services have seen a 142% increase in cases of this seasonal epidemic, with 4,000 affected people consulted, a figure that is far from the incidence recorded during the rest of the month.
This has resulted in Murcia hospitals being saturated with emergencies, as happened yesterday in Morales Meseguer on Tuesday, the day after New Year, with a considerable number of doctors attending. Influenza A is not the only reason for so many fevers and coughs today, as coronavirus and bronchitis also play a role to a lesser extent. Overall, the Murcia Health Service noted that the global incidence of respiratory infections increased by 23.4% last week (excluding the first two days of the year). “These figures are consistent with the winter we are in, where the spread of respiratory viruses is more intense,” a source in the department explained yesterday.
Pascual Piñera, director of the emergency department at the Queen Sofia Hospital of Murcia and president of the Association of Murcia, said that eight out of 10 patients treated in the emergency department in recent days It’s influenza A. Emergency and Emergency Medicine Newspaper (Semes). “Compared to the past few weeks, the incidence rate is much higher and more patients with influenza are sick. “They are more complex patients. ”
Piñera spoke of older adults or patients with pre-existing medical conditions who are vulnerable to greater physical consequences when infected with a respiratory virus. Yesterday morning, the hospital maintained non-invasive ventilation for 28 patients.
The medical manager stressed that the condition of the patient, who arrived at the emergency services at the beginning of the year and on the first day of 2024, “had multiple pathologies and multiple medications”, requiring him to be admitted to the hospital to better control his health. . The preparatory ward of Queen Sofia Hospital is open to these patients, who in many cases suffer from pneumonia.
hospital resources
Facing an increase in covid-19 and influenza A cases, Podemos yesterday asked local governments to resume the use of face masks in hospitals and health centers. In turn, they asked for beefed-up staff. Sources in the department stressed that SMS hospitals are registering “an additional influx of patients, which is normal on these dates” but that they have contingency plans to “activate all necessary means according to everyone’s needs.” In the coming weeks, The number of patients usually increases due to respiratory infections.
Murcia health services vaccinate 5,480 people
Since the start of the 2023-2024 vaccination campaign, the health services of the Murcia City Council have administered more than 5,480 doses of anti-influenza and anti-coronavirus compounds to the adult population and minors in high-risk groups. In the three months since the campaign began, more than 3,300 citizens (3,096 adults and 206 children and adolescents) have been vaccinated against influenza and more than 2,180 citizens (2,156 adults and 25 minors) have been vaccinated against COVID-19 people).