The flu epidemic continues to grow in France. Public Health France reports a “marked severity of the epidemic”in its new weekly update published this Wednesday, January 15, 2025. However, the dynamics vary depending on the indicators and age groups.
According to the organization, consultations at SOS Médecins were up from January 6 to 12. In hospital, visits to the emergency room due to flu and subsequent hospitalizations show a decrease for the same week, but the level of intensity of activities remains very high. On the death side, an increase was noted.
Read also: Why is the flu so virulent this year?
Consultations on the rise
To monitor the evolution of the number of cases, Public Health France measures the activity of medical practices. During the week of January 6 to 12, the flu indicator at SOS Médecins “reached a high level of intensity in all age groups. » SOS Médecins consultations for influenza-like illness represented 22.5% of the network’s procedures, up two points compared to the previous week.
In raw figures, 2,247 consultations at SOS Médecins out of 10,000 concerned the flu last week. This figure was 2,027 during the previous week.
City doctors’ offices recorded an increase for all age groups, except for people aged 65 and over. This increase is particularly marked among children under 15, according to Public Health France.
Intensity still very high at the hospital
At the hospital, the health organization observed a decrease in emergency room visits: influenza represented 4.3% of total hospital activity from January 6 to 12, compared to 5.2% the previous week. Hospitalizations following a trip to the emergency room are also down, with a rate of 4.6% compared to 5.4% the previous week.
This decrease in these two indicators was observed in all age groups, except among those under five years old, among whom these indicators increased sharply.
However, Public Health France estimates that this share was located “always at a very high level of intensity in all age groups”.
The number of cases in medical-social establishments is also increasing sharply.
Deaths are also increasing
Also for the week of January 6 to 12, among the 8,368 deaths declared by electronic certificate, 7.3% were with a mention of flu, compared to 5.9% during the previous week. This rate is at a level “never reached for influenza since the implementation of this surveillance”according to Public Health France.
Among the 611 flu-related deaths reported last week, 570 involved people aged 65 and over, 39 people aged 15 to 64 and two children aged 0 to 14.
It is in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur that the hospital indicators and deaths linked to flu are the highest over this period.
Overseas, Guyana has entered the epidemic phase, after Guadeloupe and Martinique. Mayotte was in pre-epidemic, while no alert was issued for Reunion.
