Influenza is spreading more and more

The flu is raging, especially in the south

02/19/2015

More and more people in Germany are getting the flu. Especially in southern Germany, some companies complain about very high sick leave in the workforce. The Working Group on Influenza (AGI) has been reporting for two weeks „Highly elevated influenza activity. "One reason could be the seasonal flu vaccine, which does not look optimal.

High point of the flu epidemic is not yet reached
The extent of the current flu epidemic is not yet clear. Experts from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig assume that the peak will only be reached in the next three weeks. „In the US, the flu epidemic is already over and the circulating virus there seems to be more severe symptoms than in previous epidemics, "explains Prof. Klaus Schughart from the HZI. „In Germany the summit is still to come. But we have to expect a similar course. "

So far, more than 18,000 flu sufferers have been registered in this year's season. Just 6,251 fell on the seventh calendar week. However, experts estimate that the number of unreported cases could be much higher. „We do not know how high this dark figure is. But there is a significant under-detection, "confirmed the spokeswoman for the Robert Koch Institute, Susanne Glasmacher, told the news agency „dpa“.

According to projections by the AGI, in this past week alone 1.5 million people in doctors' offices were treated for influenza or respiratory diseases. Many employers are already complaining about high sick leave. Especially southern Germany is badly affected. In Karlsruhe, for example, local traffic is stalled because many city train drivers are sick. According to a report of the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ even the Stadtbahn boss personally had to step in by the hour. Staff shortages currently exist in some hospitals in South Baden. „We reject anyone, "said a spokesman for the University of Freiburg at the beginning of the week told the news agency, but many plannable interventions and operations were postponed.

Flu vaccine is not optimal
As one of the reasons for the strong flu epidemic experts mention the reduced effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine. According to the RKI, the most prevalent influenza A H3N2 subtype has changed, making the vaccine inappropriate. „The influenza strain for the preparation of the vaccine is determined in the previous year. For this purpose, a prediction is made on the basis of the previous year and the influenza viruses circulating at the time. The predictions are usually very good, but unfortunately not always“, Schughart from the HZI explains. „Despite all efforts, it remains difficult to determine the exact influenza subtypes against which the vaccine must act so far in advance, "adds Prof. Carlos Guzman from the HZI. „So we need to keep working on better forecasting methods and look for new vaccines that will protect against all types of influenza A viruses.“ Guzmann advises still to the flu shot. „Partial protection is better than none at all.“ (Ag)