A few days before the beginning of autumn, experts are already looking at one of the most typical viruses of this time of year: the flu.
After two years of a pandemic, this season we will face those without the mandatory use of masks indoors (with the exception of health centers and public transport) and the news coming from the southern hemisphere is not the best, at least in regarding the number of infections.
Australia, which traditionally serves as an example to know how the flu in europe in the coming months, it has just experienced an “anomalous” epidemic wave. The worst in the last five years in terms of the frequency of contagion.
It has also had a special incidence in children from 5 to 9 years old, who had the highest rates of flu, while those up to 4 years old and adolescents were also greatly affected.
And it is that there are many young children who have not had the flu in the last two years, which makes them more susceptible to contracting it and spreading it to other people.
For this reason, the explanation for the abundant proliferation of cases could be the fact that Australia, a country with more than 25 million inhabitants, has been practically armored throughout the pandemic.
Another important issue to keep in mind is that the “influenza virus” has reached the southern hemisphere prematurely and, as always when that happens, has caused an explosion of infections.
More cases of flu but not more serious
However, as explained to the virologist and professor at the CEU San Pablo University, Stanislaus Nistalthe virus has not been “more virulent”, since it presents the “same characteristics” as in past seasons.
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“It’s very probable that we have to face the same situation in Spain. And that is why the numbers of infections in Australia should serve to reinforce the vaccination campaign with the aim of anticipating the virus and thus protecting the most vulnerable people.”
To this must be added the fact that they had been protected for two years against SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses, such as the flu.
However, it does not seem that this is why we are more susceptible. And as the specialist highlights:
It is not yet known if the lower exposure to the flu virus during the last two years will be decisive in having more cases this fall / winter
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“Vaccination campaigns have improved compared to previous years, reaching more people with coverage. There has also been more awareness about the risks of respiratory infection viruses.”
However, the “natural reinforcement of our immunity against the flu virus” has been “less enhanced than in previous years” as we have been less exposed to infection.
Therefore, it is a uncertainty to know “to what extent this lower exposure is going to be decisive in having more cases of flu this year”.
Experts ask to advance the flu vaccination campaign
In any case, and given that the flu has a very high mutation capacity, vaccination plays a fundamental role.
This year, as confirmed by the Ministry of Health, the campaign will start, foreseeably, between the third week of October and the first of November.
Flu Vaccine Questions and Answers
Influenza vaccines contain three or four types of flu viruses (two type A and one or two type B).
“These viruses are selected based on the probability of circulating in each epidemic season, according to estimates made annually by the World Health Organization.”
As pointed out by , most of the commercialized vaccines “are inactivated (not alive)”.
“They do not contain live viruses and cannot cause influenza illness. In addition to inactivated vaccines, an attenuated vaccine is licensed and should be noted that it should not be used in some high-risk groups.”
But given the epidemiological situation that has been lived in Australia, some experts have called for vaccination to be brought forward.
Specifically, and although the highest number of flu cases usually occurs “after the Christmas holidays, since we spend more time in contact with other people and in closed spaces”, the epidemiologists have asked to bring the campaign forward to the beginning of October.
The fundamental reason is that, “the vaccine protects against cases of severe disease” and is “recommended for all, those who are immunosuppressed or those with diseases associated with mortality from influenza.”
And although the vaccine “is not as effective as would be desirable (due to the mutations)”, it is also “recommended for health personnel, caregivers and young children”.
Do you recommend masks with the arrival of the flu?
Since last April, masks are not mandatory in closed spaces. But, fearing a wave of very aggressive flu, the virologist Estanislao Nistal is committed to wearing a face mask “at certain times.”
This is the case, for example, of social health centers. Although residents are not required to wear it, “I would recommend its use, as far as possible, to reduce infections and related problems.”
The sale of flu medicines increases in an “atypical” season
He Trend Observatory de Cofares has already warned. The demand for anti-flu in Spanish pharmacies has grown by 158% in the last year.
An increase in the dispensing of this type of medicine that was accentuated in the month of April, just when face masks were no longer mandatory in closed spaces. At that time, the sale shot up 288%.
The explanation is thedisplacement of seasonal diseases And the biggest weakness of…