The flu is gaining ground in Charente, the hospital and medical practices are trying to resist

“There is no more influx than usual, but sicker people who require hospital care.” This is the observation of Gilles Moalic, the head of the emergency department at Angoulême hospital. Severe respiratory infections, heart failure due to the flu. The hospital is “under tension” “but we are managing to cope” assures Dr Moalic.

Patients who do not have a treating doctor and who arrive do not saturate the service. “We diagnose them with automatons [qui permettent en un test rapide d’identifier la maladie]and they are sent home with paracetamol. There is nothing else to do.” Others, more at risk, often older, can be taken care of: the triggering of the white plan made it possible to reopen eight beds in the recently closed gastroenterology department and to mobilize nurses from the replacement pool. “We reorganized, we didn’t need to recall staff,” says the doctor.

“Activity is high but manageable”

In Cognac, Bruno Bonnain, the director, stopped at the previous stage. “We experienced fairly strong tensions on Monday and Tuesday, with increased visits to the emergency room for winter viral pathologies and people who tolerated it moderately. We therefore triggered the “hospital under tension” procedure, to alert the ARS to the difficulty of accommodating patients. I didn’t want to go blank, we found solutions internally.” Activity is “high but manageable without regulation or additional staff. » But wearing a mask has become compulsory again.

In his office in L’Isle-d’Espagnac, Gilles Raymond, general practitioner and president of the MG 16 union, can act as spokesperson for his Charente colleagues. “Everyone will say the same thing.” They are on edge, their phones are overloaded, their waiting rooms are always full. “I don’t know if we are reaching the epidemiological peak,” asks the doctor, “but we are going up very strongly. This is the essence of pathologies. We have a very significant influx into medical practices.” Sometimes entire families. Together or one after the other…

“We organized an emergency consultation at the office. 80% of consultations concern the flu.

The first signs of the epidemic appeared in mid-December, just before the holidays. “Generally, after the holidays, it increases very significantly,” recalls Gilles Raymond. There was no shortage of that this year.

In Saint-Amant-de-Boixe, Jean-Pascal Willaumez, the dean of general practitioners in the department confirms. “The period is busy but no more so than other years,” he analyzes. The particularity is that we have all the microbes at the same time: the different flus, covid, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), tonsillitis and gastro. That’s about ten patients per day,” or a third of its daily patient base.

25% more activity. Damien Lailler, general practitioner in Roumazières, noticed this at the group practice. “It’s significant, even if it’s not exceptional, almost at the level of last year.” Not easy to manage, however “with a limited range of care, quite a few colleagues on leave. » This week, the Chasseneuil unscheduled care center is closed. The doctors in Roumazières were able to welcome their patients “but we received calls from Confolens. I know that the emergency rooms have also had an increase in activity there.” The doctors were not able to take care of everyone. They try to do a little education, encourage hand washing and barrier gestures..

“We each have 5 to 10 more patients per day”

Since the holidays, since the start of the school year which boosted the spread of the virus, Gilles Raymond has noticed this. “We have quite varied symptoms, flu-like conditions that make you tired without too much fever, others with a lot of fever. But this year, the flu is affecting a lot of people and is lasting over time.

Adapt? “We organized an emergency consultation at the office, taking turns. 80% of consultations concern the flu. And we each have, in addition, five to ten affected patients per day,” explains the general practitioner. “It’s sometimes complicated to manage. This creates an influx of patients while the reception capacities of our secretariats are limited and the schedules are full. It’s complicated in the emergency room where everyone arrives at the same time, with us it’s the same.”

He remains a philosopher. “We carry out administrative regulation to justify absences from work. We have until the February holidays. By the time everyone is sick…

“The vaccine still serves a purpose”

Still makes sense to get vaccinated against the flu? “Yes, it’s still useful for something,” replies without hesitation Dr. Gilles Moalic, in the emergency room of Girac hospital. “It takes two weeks for the vaccine to be effective. We know that we have to face twelve weeks of epidemic, until April, because it’s like that all the time. »
“She is violent, bad cough, high fever.” This is the idea that Jeanne Lazard Cardona, pharmacist in Basseau, has about the 2025 flu by observing patients from her counter. This is the essence of pathologies. “And this year, people were vaccinated later, in November, while the 2024-2025 campaign started on October 15 and runs until January 31.” The previous campaign was extended until March 31, 2024.
Au 1^is January, according to figures from the CPAM (primary health insurance fund), the rate of use of reimbursed flu vaccines in Charente is 46.9% on 1^is January 2025 (47.9% in New Aquitaine – 45.8% in mainland France). At the end of the 2023-2024 campaign, i.e. on March 31, 2024, this same rate was 48.6% in Charente (47% in mainland France).
These figures only concern “at risk” patients who have been targeted by the CPAM, contacted by mail and who are entitled to a free vaccine. Since the start of the campaign, the Basseau pharmacy has delivered 500 doses of flu vaccine and 360 people have been vaccinated on site. “It’s not bad, it’s comparable to last year,” said the pharmacist.