There’s a lot of flu about. The number of patients with flu symptoms rose to its highest level in 5 years last week. Significantly more flu patients are also ending up in hospital. A large number of children are also coming down with flu this year.
The flu has Belgium firmly in its grip the weekly report from health institute Sciensano shows.
Last week, 926 patients per 100,000 inhabitants contacted their doctor with flu symptoms. That is the highest number in five years.
‘We are right in the peak of the epidemic,’ says virologist Steven Van Gucht. ‘And it's a severe flu season. There are currently 25 per cent more flu cases than during the peak last year.’
Striking this year is the large number of children aged between 0 and 14 years that have come down with flu. But there are also more flu cases in residential care homes than in previous years too.
‘Sometimes with very serious consequences,’ says Van Gucht. ‘More people than average have been dying for several weeks now. It’s not really unusual during a flu epidemic.’
According to Van Gucht, it is difficult to predict whether there will be even more flu infections in the coming weeks. ‘We may have reached the peak, but we are still going to have to wait a few weeks before we can really confirm that.’
Since 9 January, code orange for respiratory infections has been in force in Belgium. As a result, masks are again recommended (but not mandatory) for people with symptoms moving in crowded places, e.g. like on public transport.
Several hospitals have made masking mandatory again for visitors, doctors and staff.
Pressure on hospitals
The number of patients ending up in hospital with flu has also risen sharply. ‘It is really quite busy as a result of the flu epidemic,’ says Lieve Dhaene of the hospital network Zorgnet-Icuro.
‘We hear that non-urgent care is being postponed in some hospitals, but it certainly does not affect all hospitals.’
GPs are also noticing this spike. The number of doctors indicating a high workload due to consultations for respiratory infections continues to rise. 74 per cent of doctors indicate that the workload is high to very high. In mid-January, this was still the case for 6 in 10 doctors.
In contrast, the number of infections with RSV (the virus that can cause severe respiratory infections in babies and young children) dropped below the epidemic threshold last week. This could mean that the RSV epidemic is over for this year.