The flu season began on October 3 and had already been reported by intensive care units involved in flu surveillance until about a week ago. 26 admissionsaccording to the latest flu follow-up bulletin from the Dr. Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health (INSA), quoted this Tuesday by the Público newspaper.

In the newspaper, the pulmonologist Filipe Froes points out that before the Covid-19 pandemic, the average number of flu cases admitted to intensive care at the end of each flu season was around 120 to 160, numbers that the specialist believes they should “be reached by the end of this flu season,” though he notes one difference: “It’s unusual at such an early stage of flu to have this impact on intensive care with 12 hospitalizations in the last week.”

“Typically, there is a gap of two to three weeks between the increase in the number of cases in the community and hospitalizations. There is more and more seriousness and more need for vaccination”, underlines the specialist who takes the opportunity to recall that “winter has not yet arrived” and that “the peak of flu activity has not yet been reached”.

Of the Portuguese who fell ill with the flu, “24 cases” of infection were also detected simultaneously with SARS-Cov2. So far, despite the increase in the number of cases, according to the INSA report, mortality remains “within what is expected for the time of year.”

Even so, hospital emergency services already show overload in terms of influx and record waiting times above expectations for the different severities attributed to patients in triage when they arrive at hospital units.

Premature or low birth weight babies among those most affected by respiratory syncytial virus

Regarding the data on respiratory syncytial virus, the INSA report reveals that “the increasing trend in the number of hospitalizations” continues, with the exception of the interpretation of the data considering that the number of hospitalizations is updated retrospectively to the date of high of cases.

Regarding the 171 cases reported, since the beginning of October, the INSA reveals that close to 50% of the cases were less than three months old, 18% were between three and five months old, 17% were between six and 11 months old and the The remaining 15% were babies between the first and second year of life.

Source: Bulletin of Epidemiological Surveillance of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses of the INSA

In the criteria of severity of the situations, the INSA report reveals that “11% were admitted to Intensive Care Units or required ventilation.”