Incidence rate of flu lowered in Portugal
INSA also says that no case of complaints was reported by the 16 Intensive Care Units that sent information
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The incidence rate of the flu syndrome (GS) dropped to 13.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest influenza surveillance bulletin from the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), released this Friday.
Despite the reduction in the incidence rate, the epidemiological surveillance bulletin for influenza and other respiratory viruses continues to indicate a growing trend in flu activity and recalls that the value of the flu syndrome incidence “must be interpreted taking into account that the population under observation was lower than that observed in the same period of previous years”.
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INSA also says that no case of complaints was reported by the 16 Intensive Care Units that sent information.
In the week of December 27th to January 2nd (week 52), an incidence rate of acute respiratory infection (ARI) was 59.9 per 100 thousand inhabitants, according to the INSA, also alerting that the population under observation (15,037) it was also smaller than in previous years.
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The values of clinical influenza surveillance were determined through the medical-sentinel network, an information system made up of general and family medicine doctors from the continent and the autonomous regions.
Other viruses and respiratory agents
With regard to laboratory surveillance, which allows the identification of various respiratory viruses, the INSA bulletin indicates that, under the National Influenza Surveillance Program, at the time 2021/2022, “265 cases of ARI / SG were formed, a positive case for influenza virus type B was detected in week 49/2021”.
Since the start of the surveillance period (week 40/2021), other respiratory viruses have been detected in 88 cases of ARI / SG: 43 rhinoviruses (hRV), 22 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), 11 coronaviruses (hCoV); two parainfluenza (PIV), two metapneumoviruses (hMPV), three enteroviruses (hEV) and five mixed infections.
In the 2021/2022 season, the laboratories of the Portuguese Network of Laboratories for the Diagnosis of Influenza (Hospitals) reported 25,509 cases of respiratory infection. In the week between December 27 and January 2, 30 cases of influenza were detected, of which 24 were positive for the type A virus, three of which were of subtype A (H3N2) and six were positive for the type B influenza virus , refers to the document.
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According to the INSA, since a 40/2021 week, other respiratory agents were identified in 2,633 cases and between December 27 and January 2, 104 positive cases for other respiratory agents were detected, “mostly respiratory syncytial virus”.
As for severity, the reference document that was not reported, no case of complaint by the 16 intensive care units that sent information. There were also no cases of complaints reported by three wards that sent information.
The INSA bulletin also indicates that mortality from all causes is “in line with expectations for this time of year”.
More than 2.4 million vaccinated
Vaccination against a flu arrived in Portugal at the end of September, earlier than usual due to the covid-19 pandemic, which has already vaccinated more than 2.4 million people, according to the latest data from the Directorate-General for Health.
Regarding the European situation, the INSA bulletin indicates that in week 50/2021 there was “an increasing trend in flu activity in Europe, with a predominance of the influenza virus of subtype A (H3)”. Five countries (Israel, Armenia, Sweden, Russia, Moldova) dissipated a laboratory detection rate of the influenza virus above 10% and in the totality of those tested a 9.5% positivity rate for the influenza virus was registered.
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“Consequently, given that in week 49/2021 a laboratory detection rate above 10% had already been observed, it is considered that the European region is at the beginning of epidemic activity of Influenza”, he adds.
Among 1,136 sentinels tested, 108 (9.5%) were positive for influenza virus (107 positive responses for type A influenza virus and one positive sample for type B). Of the 80 subtyped influenza virus type A, all were type A (H3).
In hospital-based surveillance systems, 75 cases of type A influenza and four type B influenza were confirmed in the laboratory, in intensive care units (ICU). type A (H1) and 69.2% of type A (H3), the report says.