An unwelcome but regular guest of the end-of-year celebrations, the flu spared no region of mainland France during Christmas week and intensified in all age groups, Public Health France reported on Thursday January 2.
The epidemic is “clear increase” both in hospitals and in community medicine, notes the health agency in its weekly bulletin, children under 15 being the most affected, with “an increase in hospitalizations of people aged 65 and over”. Consequence: some hospitals have made masks obligatory, others have triggered the white plan and some, like that of Lisieux (Calvados), have opened a dedicated unit so as not to overflow the emergencies.
Strains of “absolute normality”
General practitioner in Les Ulis, in Essonne, Pascal Charbonnel received more than four flu patients in one afternoon during his last day of consultation: “Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done. I test them, confirm that it is indeed the flu, and their sign a work stoppage – they mostly come for that. It’s also a bag of knots that we could do without since it uses up work time unnecessarily. These sick leaves could be done, as in other countries, by self-declaration…”
On social networks, testimonies from patients are multiplying, being surprised by the fatigue and the symptoms of the virus which do not go away, regretting not being able to get out of bed to celebrate the last evening of 2024, some blaming a more serious flu. “virulent” than in previous years.
“That’s not the case, immediately responds Bruno Lina, head of the virology department at the Croix-Rousse hospital in Lyon. The strains circulating are absolutely normal, but they relatively spare the elderly and affect younger people more. But they are the ones who consider that it is not normal to have the flu and spend three days bedridden. Except that it always happens like this! »
Young people most affected
If this year the affected population is younger than usual, it is because, of the three strains circulating at the moment – H1N1, virus B and H3N2, the first two are the majority. “However, those over 65 have a better immune response to H1N1 since it circulated widely until the 1960s. Younger people, on the other hand, were more likely to be primary infected with H3N2, even though the latter causes a high mortality rate among the elderly. »
Despite this, the flu virus remains dangerous for those over 65. “These last few days have been marked by an increase in the number of cases at home with a sharp increase in the need for hospitalization. Those who suffer the most are those in their 80s and 90s.need Bruno Lina.
Vaccination lagging behind
“At the other end of the spectrum of young people who forget that the flu completely knocks you out, there are fragile people who find themselves hospitalized. And to prevent this, vaccination still remains the best. But it is not used enough, this year it is falling again…”regrets Doctor Pascal Charbonnel.
Launched on October 15, the vaccination campaign invited 17.2 million French people to be injected with the flu vaccine, combined this year with that of Covid-19. At the end of November, Public Health France and Health Insurance warned of an absent start, lagging behind previous years.
“The level of vaccination is not up to par. The acceptance rate for this injection should be much higher”supports Bruno Lina, who reminds us that there is still time to do it. By 2023, the flu had caused at least 14,000 hospitalizations and nearly 2,000 deaths.
