Emergency rooms saturated by the flu epidemic: “We are very concerned,” warns a department head at Tenon hospital

Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris, fears a scenario similar to the winter of 2017-2018 which caused excess mortality. “We have bad memories” of episodes that start early.

“The slope is quite upward, we are very concerned”alert Wednesday January 8 on franceinfo Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris while the flu is putting hospitals under pressure. Around twenty establishments have activated the White Plan.

“When we look at the week of Christmas, it’s completely vertical in the increase in the number of cases and it’s much earlier” than usual, specifies the doctor. “We are always wary of these episodes of seasonal flu which start early because sometimes they come in two waves. We have bad memories, especially in 2017-2018”he recalls. The flu caused excess mortality estimated at 13,000 deaths during the winter of 2017-2018.

This year, emergencies are mainly dealing with cases of influenza A. “It’s a very tense situation, we are very concerned”confides Gilles Pialoux. Tuesday at Tenon Hospital, “we had 20 stretcher beds. These are not people who are waiting to be examined, these are people who have been examined and for whom we are waiting for a bed and who can stay several days on this stretcher bed. It's really a marker.” he said. The Parisian hospital has opened a 10-bed room to relieve emergencies.

Gilles Pialoux regrets the low flu vaccination rate: “If we look at people at risk over 65, last year we were at 54% vaccination while the objective is more like 75-80%”. It also estimates the vaccination coverage of caregivers “totally insufficient”. “It’s still amazing. In public hospitals, we must be around 18% vaccinated”he protests.