Children in Hanover catch up on infections
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No masks, many contacts: children in Hanover catch up on infections
Hanover.Runny nose, cough and fever: A striking number of children suffer from respiratory infections in this month, which would actually be typical for the colder season. And gastrointestinal diseases in school children are currently making the rounds in Hanover.
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“Normally, people get the real influenza between October and April,” says Detlef Haffke from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Lower Saxony (KVN). In the years before Corona there were always between 10,000 and 18,000 people in Lower Saxony. Haffke: “Now in May there were a few cases of flu in Lower Saxony, but at a very low level of 56 cases nationwide. One cannot speak of a flu epidemic at the moment.”
Not a single flu case in May 2021
Because there are “again and again flu diseases or diseases of the upper respiratory tract outside of the classic flu season,” emphasizes Haffke. What is unusual, however, is that the numbers are rising again so late: “You haven’t seen that in the past few years. Last year there was not a single case of flu in May.” The state health department also confirms this. Not only children are affected, but also seniors or people with weak immune systems.
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More sick children and adolescents are currently coming to the Misburg pediatric practice run by the Medical Association Board member Thomas Buck and his two practice colleagues, Dagmar Gähler and Jessica Bähre. “We have a large number of patients with respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. In view of the warm temperatures, it is noticeable that there are many feverish infections. In relation to the weather, this is unusual,” says Gaehler. However, the practice team does not currently test children specifically for flu viruses. Buck: “The capacities of the laboratories don’t allow for that yet. Therefore, we cannot say how many of our patients actually have influenza.”
Pediatrician Thomas Buck currently has a lot to do in his practice: “We are experiencing a normal catch-up effect, which unfortunately keeps the practices in the city busy.”
© Source: Katrin Kutter
But why are the cases of infection now increasing? The reason for this is the increasing loosening of the corona virus, explains doctor Buck. “For more than two years, our immune system did not have to fight off any viral infections because we were well protected by the mask and had fewer contacts overall.” The immune system was “out of practice” and is now “retrained”. KVN spokesman Haffke also confirms this: “The corona protection measures play a role. Mask and distance have also made it much more difficult for the flu in the past two years. With the easing, contagion is now occurring again.”
So far, there have been no severe courses
It is comparable to the first year of crèche, where frequent infections are part of everyday life. Buck: “So the current infections are not bad at all. We are experiencing a normal catch-up effect, which unfortunately means a lot of work for the practices in the city.” However, the situation in the practices is not as tense as in autumn, when an unusually large number of children had respiratory diseases – triggered by the RS virus. So far, there have been no easy courses, says the board of directors of the medical association. “We didn’t admit a single child with the flu or gastrointestinal symptoms,” says MHH spokeswoman Simone Corpus. And there is good protection, says Haffke: “Wearing a mask can protect against flu.”
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By Britta Luers