No end to the flu episode in sight

Fever, body aches, coughing: Also around six weeks after the outbreak is no end to the flu episode in Bavaria in sight. The number of influenza cases has risen again in the past week. Also in other federal states there is no all-clear.

Number of flu illnesses has again increased significantly
Despite rising temperatures, the flu in Bavaria persists. Many patients still report to their doctor with typical symptoms such as fever, chills or headaches. Last week, the number of flu illnesses has risen again, according to a news agency dpa. A spokeswoman for the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) explained: "However, the increase seems to have slowed somewhat by now." According to her, 2,370 new infections with influenza viruses were reported to the Bavarian health authorities. Even if this was a little less than in the previous week, when the state authority had registered more than 2,500 new cases together with the reported cases, but it was significantly more than at the same time last year.

Experts assume a high number of unreported cases
Overall, the number of people infected since the beginning of the year soared to 10,227 cases. Thus, the total number of Bavarian flu patients exceeds the comparable previous year's figure by eight and a half times. However, 2014 was a very weak flu year, said the LGL spokeswoman. In addition, the number of unreported cases was high, since not all influenza patients went to the doctor and not all physicians took a flu test. In the past week, the highest infection risk in Upper Bavaria was measured by the new influenza numbers. By Friday, doctors and hospitals reported 503 new infections. This was followed by Lower Bavaria with 433, the Upper Palatinate with 406 and Middle Franconia with 400 new cases. In Lower Franconia, however, there are only 106 new infections, in Swabia there were 170 and in Upper Franconia 352.

Flu epidemic not over in other states
Even from other states there is no all-clear. For example, more than 2,000 influenza cases have been reported in Thuringia alone in the last two weeks, according to the health ministry in Erfurt. The number of sick Thuringians has thus increased to 3,538. According to the information, the current flu epidemic is particularly noticeable in day care centers and schools. The majority of the patients are children and adolescents up to the age of 14 years. And Berlin complains 1. fatalities of the severe flu epidemic, as recently reported. Around 1,500 influenza cases have been recorded in the capital so far. (Ad)