Portugal with sporadic flu activity, revelation INSA – Observer
Portugal has a sporadic flu activity, with an incidence rate of 10.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, announced this Thursday the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA).
In the week from November 29th to December 5th, “an incidence rate of the flu syndrome was estimated at 10.1 per 100,000 inhabitants”, stated the epidemiological surveillance bulletin of influenza and other respiratory viruses of the INSA.
These values, which must be interpreted taking into account that a population under observation was smaller than in homologous periods of previous years, were calculated through the medical-sentinel network, an information system made up of general practitioners and family members from the continent and regions autonomous.
As for laboratory surveillance, which allows the identification of several respiratory viruses, the INSA report indicates that the Portuguese network of hospital laboratories detected “three positive cases for influenza virus type A, one of them being of the H3N2 subtype”.
Regarding the parameter of severity, “no case of flu was reported” by the 15 intensive care units that sent information, added the INSA, adding that, in the European region, there is a “growing trend of flu activity”.
Vaccination against a flu arrived in Portugal at the end of September, earlier than usual due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already immunized more than 2.1 million people, according to data from the Directorate-General for Health.
In Portugal, the surveillance system for influenza and other respiratory infections comprises the network of sentinel doctors, the emergency services, the service areas dedicated to respiratory patients, the Portuguese network of laboratories for the diagnosis of the flu virus and the intensive care units.
This annual program starts in early October, ends in May of the following year, and integrates clinical and laboratory components.