Consultations and visits to emergency rooms for cases of flu have been increasing in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in recent weeks. This virus can cause serious symptoms in people with respiratory or heart problems.
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The flu epidemic is intensifying from week to week. The virus now affects all regions of the country, including Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes where the number of cases is exploding. Visits to emergency rooms for cases of flu increased by 133% in the region between the week of December 16 to 22 and that of December 23 to 29.
And the number of hospitalizations for influenza-related illness increased from 156 to 424 over the same period, an increase of 172%, according to the latest regional bulletin from Public Health France. Olivier Épaulard, professor of infectious diseases at Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital, takes stock of the evolution of the epidemic and reminds us of the good reflexes to protect ourselves from it.
France 3 Alpes: how is the flu epidemic progressing in Isère and more widely in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes?
Olivier Épaulard: In the department, in France, and even throughout the northern hemisphere, we are at the start of the flu season like we experience every year. We have seen flu indicators rise over the past two weeks, and especially this week.
That is to say positive tests, people hospitalized in the emergency room every day for breathing difficulties or for a fever, people hospitalized in conventional departments or even in intensive care due to a more serious flu.
Why do we experience flu epidemics every year despite vaccination and barrier measures?
I don’t know if mask wearing is as widespread as it should be. This is one of the great lessons of Covid-19: when there is a respiratory illness, the best way to limit its spread is to wear a mask, particularly if you are sick yourself or if you must go to a confined place such as public transport.
But the flu has had flu seasons every year for hundreds of years, revolving around the Earth, which follow one another because the virus changes. In the same way that Covid variants have triggered new epidemic peaks, the flu varies every year.
There are three or four strains which can vary in this way and be responsible for diseases against which the vaccine we made one or two years ago is less effective. This is why we adapt vaccines every year to new viral forms and why we get vaccinated every year.
How can the situation evolve?
We are completely on the upward slope of the epidemic. I don’t know how long it will last because there are sometimes aftershocks, like after an earthquake, throughout the winter for example.
This is clearly the time when you must protect yourself if you are fragile, when you must put on a mask if you yourself are sick.
How can you protect yourself effectively against the flu?
I could say the best way is to get vaccinated, but that’s especially true in the fall. It is always interesting to get vaccinated if you have not yet done so, but we encourage you to do so in anticipation.
If you yourself have respiratory signs, you cough, you have a fever, you are short of breath, you have sputum, you must always wear a mask if you move around. Furthermore, you must refrain from seeing people in your family or friends who are elderly or frail.
It is always interesting to get vaccinated if you have not yet done so, but we encourage you to do so in anticipation.
Pr Olivier Épaulard, infectiologist at the CHU Grenoble-Alpes
If you are elderly, have chronic respiratory or heart problems, you must wear a mask if you go to stores or if you go to places where other people, due to promiscuity, could us contaminate.
Are some people more prone to getting the flu?
Anyone can be affected by the flu. We see it clearly every year, a large part of the population gets the flu more or less serious, including children. But the people we see arriving in the emergency room or who must be treated in intensive care very often have a pre-existing health problem.
In these people, the flu unbalances a pre-existing pathology and we find ourselves with a worsening, for example, of cardiac or respiratory symptoms.
Are there other viruses causing problems?
Like every year, we have the RSV season, the respiratory virus syncytial which is known to cause bronchiolitis in infants. This virus causes seasonal epidemics generally at the end of autumn and we saw it pass this year.
There is a vaccine, either for pregnant women to protect their child at birth, or a vaccine for people over 75 to protect them against potentially serious forms of infection.
Furthermore, we have a disease that we now know well, Covid-19. We continue to have two or three peaks every year. Currently, the virus is not at the forefront but there is still a lot of interest for fragile people or those over 80 to be vaccinated.