The natural defenses of the population against an infection with the flu virus have decreased. — © getty images
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epidemic
The flu is early this year. The epidemic has already started in Croatia.
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Hilde Van den Eynde
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The flu season in Europe usually doesn’t start until December. But there is already so much flu going around in Croatia that, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), we can speak of an epidemic, which is unusually early in the year.
The most common flu strain in the Balkan country is A(H3N2). That strain is in the flu vaccine. But because this vaccine certainly does not provide the elderly with watertight protection against infection, the coming flu season could be tough for this age group. The elderly are very vulnerable to complications from the flu, the ECDC fears. A severe flu season would put an additional burden on healthcare, which is already under pressure from the Covid pandemic.
It is not unexpected that the flu is making an early appearance this year. Last winter there was hardly any flu in Europe due to the measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, the natural defenses of the population against an infection with the flu virus have declined. That could mean that more people will get the flu this winter, and that the epidemic will become bigger than in an average flu year.
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Unfamiliar territory
The fact that outbreaks occur outside the classic flu season, as is now happening in Croatia, also fits in that pattern. “Such phenomena are well known for measles and other infectious diseases,” said Pasi Penttinen, head of flu control at ECDC, in our sister newspaper. The standard. “For the time being, we understand less well about flu, how a more susceptible population translates into larger, and more spread out, outbreaks. We are in uncharted territory.”
About 20 percent of the population becomes infected with the flu in an average year and one in four infected people develop flu symptoms after being infected. As with Covid-19, the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, lung and respiratory problems, diabetes or problems with the immune system are most at risk for serious complications from the flu.
For the coming flu season, our country has provided 3.78 million flu vaccines, 840,000 more than last season.
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