The last days of December and the first days of January are the hallmarks of the flu. Currently, according to the Carlos III Health Institute, there are more than 950 cases of acute respiratory infections per 100,000 inhabitants, and although COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are stabilizing, this is not the case with influenza. same. According to the same report, flu infections continue to rise, with experts consulted predicting a peak in infections in mid-January, just after Christmas gatherings and dinners. Will the flu virus spread more intensely this winter? Why aren’t our chances of getting COVID-19 so high? Carmen Camaraimmunologist at La Paz Hospital, member of the Spanish Society of Immunology Angel GillA professor of preventive medicine and public health at King Juan Carlos University explains the key to this new wave of influenza.
ISCIII epidemiological data indicate that influenza cases continue to increase, but that bronchiolitis and COVID-19 cases do not. Why is the flu spreading faster than other circulating viruses this year?
For Carmen Cámara, the key is vaccination. “Our vaccine against influenza is not as good as the vaccine against COVID-19. We have never had a good influenza vaccine. What we have achieved with COVID-19 is vaccinating the entire population,” the immunologist explained. We’ve never done that with influenza. “He believes that with influenza, people are not aware of the dangers. This is the approach used against other infections such as COVID-19. This, he believes, results in coverage rarely exceeding 50% being achieved in a given population.” He concluded Dow: “On the one hand, we have a poor vaccination profile, and on the other hand, as a virus that mutates at such a high rate, we have never had a vaccine as good as the COVID-19 vaccine. “
Who should get the flu vaccine?
People aged over 60, people aged five or over in disability centers and nursing homes and those considered high-risk. It is also suitable for pregnant women in any trimester of pregnancy and in the postpartum period; in addition to those living with someone who is highly immunosuppressed. It also focuses on those who may spread these diseases through their activities, such as health and social hygiene professionals, as well as national security forces and agencies, firefighters and civil protection services.
As for the vaccine specifically targeting influenza, this year we also innovatively expanded the scope of vaccination to children aged 6 to 59 months.
Should vaccinations be expanded?
“The indicators proposed by the ministry also include all people living with vulnerable groups. Therefore, we are talking about almost the entire population being able to be vaccinated,” Ángel Gil admitted. “We must remember that getting the flu vaccine does not prevent infection, but it can prevent severe illness; this can prevent a person from being hospitalized or entering intensive care or even dying,” he added. If people who live with this population get vaccinated, “we’ll reduce the risk of transmission a little bit.”
“There’s not much point in getting vaccinated if the patient already has the disease”
Angel GillProfessor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at King Juan Carlos University.
If a person has already had the flu, is it recommended that they still get vaccinated?
“There’s not much point in getting vaccinated if the patient already has the disease,” Angel Gil said. Public health experts believe that once passed, if it is known clearly through a diagnostic test, “then there is no need.” Gill also added that existing flu vaccines contain virus A and virus B. “Right now we are suffering from virus A, but probably in mid-February, virus B will start circulating and through vaccination we can be protected from a second wave of the epidemic.” “Virus B. Let us never underestimate the vaccine The effect of vaccination, it protects us from other influenza viruses,” he recalled.
Is the high spread of the flu virus related to the COVID-19 variants that are circulating being weaker than previous variants?
Carmen Camara doesn’t think so. While it is fortunately true that all COVID-19 variants that have emerged are less contagious, what is important at the moment is that the population is “very well vaccinated”, reaching 95% of the population. Vaccination and the fact that strains are “increasingly less virulent” have led to a significant decline in incidence. With the flu, the opposite is true, Kamara explained. “We’re not facing the same situation as the flu because, for one thing, it mutates a lot, and on top of that, we’ve never had a vaccine. The flu vaccine is always based on what was prevalent the year before. That’s a gamble. So, What comes into circulation the next year is always different. Sometimes it’s just a little different, but every five or ten years it’s very different. I think if everyone who was supposed to be vaccinated had been vaccinated, we wouldn’t be here Current Influenza Incidences.”
“I think if everyone who was supposed to be vaccinated got vaccinated, we wouldn’t have the flu rates we have now.”
Carmen CamaraImmunologist at La Paz Hospital and member of the Spanish Society of Immunology.
So in pandemic years when flu viruses spread less, is it less about the type of COVID-19 strain and more about us protecting ourselves more?
“Our highest flu vaccination coverage was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in those years we also wore masks and on top of that we had less social contact. Now we have left all those habits behind . The theory that there is an ecological niche that, if one virus occupies it, another virus cannot occupy, is not well proven,” Camara gave up.
What if we don’t have the flu or COVID-19 but have similar symptoms. What will we experience?
Immunologists point to adenovirus, mycoplasma or pneumococci, among others. “This happens every winter. The only difference this winter is that we don’t have an RSV rebound because we are treating newborns with monoclonal antibodies, who are the main group affected, and we don’t have COVID-19 because We’re doing very well with vaccinations,” he noted. “Maybe what we should at least learn from influenza, which is a very serious disease that affects more than 5,000 people in Spain every year, is that there is something else we can do, and that is get vaccinated,” he added. Chaim believes that society has a “tolerance” for certain types of death and that this tolerance should be reduced.
When did you start worrying about having a high fever?
If it continues to exceed 38 degrees for more than 24 hours, you should consult and receive a doctor’s evaluation. Most importantly, Kamara said, due to pneumonia, including pneumococcus and mycoplasma.
When is the peak of influenza infections expected to arrive?
Flu infections peak in mid-January. The peak of infections has arrived when the cold winter arrives after months of mild temperatures.
What steps can be taken to avoid overwhelming the health system?
“What we have to learn in the health system is that when a virus that affects the respiratory tract reaches the point of transmission, we have to increase health system coverage,” Angel Gil responded. “We have to work to expand health care coverage, Strengthening health care and even providing more hospital beds if necessary. But this is something we encounter every year.”