Finally, an end to the flu episode is in sight

Finally, an end to the flu episode is in sight

03/22/2015

Fever, chills, body aches: In recent months, thousands of citizens have suffered from the effects of influenza infection. For weeks, the flu epidemic paralyzed businesses and authorities. But now - in Bavaria - an end to the wave of illness seems to be in sight. The number of new infections has declined sharply there recently.

Number of flu patients had multiplied
This year, especially many people have suffered from the consequences of influenza. It has recently been reported that the number of Bavarian flu patients has multiplied in comparison to the previous year - although the last one was also a rather weak flu year. Many patients have had to stay home with symptoms such as fever, cough and headaches in recent weeks. But now, after nearly two months in Bavaria, an end to the severe flu epidemic is emerging.

Severe flu epidemic since the swine flu 2009
As the news agency dpa reports, registered the health authorities last week, only 1,060 new influenza infections. That was much less than the week before. „The curve is now clearly down“, said a spokeswoman for the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) in Erlangen. „The season is slowly coming to an end.“ Reportedly, the number of reported illnesses has been the worst flu epidemic since swine flu in 2009. Experts also expect a high number of unreported cases since not all influenza patients went to the doctor and not all physicians took a flu test.

Over 13,600 reported flu cases
In total, 13,661 influenza infections had been reported since the beginning of the year. In the previous year there were only 1,677 cases at this time. However, 2014 was an extremely weak flu year. With 315 cases in the past week, most new infections from Upper Bavaria had been reported. According to the LGL, the reason for this is the large population density in Greater Munich. Middle Franconia follows with 216 new influenza diseases. And as with the entire flu season, Swabia with 81 and Lower Franconia with 54 new cases are at the bottom. (Ad)

Picture credits: Dieter Schütz