We thought she was on the ground, knocked out by a Covid-19 with overwhelming supremacy and perpetually invigorated by her mutations. Out of breath in 2019-2020, the seasonal flu snuck in at the start of winter and is flaring up in March, due to a “rise” as spectacular as it is late.
So much so that the Covid, stung in the middle of the descent, made us jump. Covid contaminations are rising from an incidence rate which remains very high at the end of March: 928 cases per week on average for 100,000 inhabitants (while the alert threshold is 50 cases).
The “competition” between viruses exists, confirms Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin, epidemiologist and expert from Public Health France. “Last winter, the barrier measures had a major impact on other viruses. We had no circulation or flu epidemic, it was an unprecedented situation, ”specifies this specialist in respiratory infections.
Viruses jostle at the gate of pharmacies
At the end of March, there is therefore a “cohabitation” between viruses which present symptoms “extremely difficult to distinguish clinically”, recognizes the epidemiologist.
Anne-Laure Bafoil, from the Pharmabest pharmacy in Aubière (Puy-de-Dôme), notes an “increase in attendance” at her pharmacy for flu-like conditions, which causes continued use of Covid tests. “Testing yourself allows you to know if you have the flu or the Covid”, confirms the pharmacist.
In Tulle, his colleague Olivier Marquet also observes attendance linked to the Covid-flu concomitance, while putting it into perspective: “It has nothing to do with what we experienced between the end of November and the end of January with the Delta waves and Omicron”. At the end of March, pathologies are all the same jostling at the gate: “We also have colds and allergic spring colds”, notes Olivier Marquet. “We mainly see gastroenteritis in children”, adds Anne-Laure Bafoil.
Havoc in kindergarten
If pharmacists manage the influx, in some schools, the Covid-flu sequence is starting to weigh. Élise, a school teacher in Puy-de-Dôme, pampers toddlers with the flu all day: “It started ten days ago and it was dazzling. In our kindergarten, all classes have seen their numbers reduced by half”.
The teacher is struck by the rapidity of the contagion.
“If I see a child who is a bit calm with bright eyes, I take his temperature. In the space of two hours, I can find myself with several children at 38-39”.
Elise (School teacher in Puy-de-Dôme)
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For 10 days, the flu has been systematically diagnosed in this school: “They come back very tired. We had already been very affected in January-February by the Covid, some students even had it twice! […] I observe a certain weariness among parents who have multiplied sick child leave, ”says the teacher.
Children, and in particular the youngest “who have never seen an influenza virus”, are the “engine of the transmission of seasonal influenza”, confirms Sybille Bernard-Stoecklin.
“Ordinary” parameter of a “very atypical” flu epidemic. Not only is it not satisfied with its eight to ten weeks of nuisance, but it has superbly ignored its “usual” seasonal peak.
Update on the Covid-19 epidemic in France and around the world
The epidemic remained under the radar this winter but Public Health France characterized its progression last week by the passage of “a level of low intensity to moderate”.
Apart from this ignition delay, nothing extraordinary for the moment. “We are at the beginning of the intensification of the circulation of the flu. All the scenarios are on the table”, warns Sybille Bernard-Stoecklin, but, she agrees, “a major seasonal flu epidemic in April would be unheard of”.
To guard against this, we know the right gestures: they are exactly the same as for the Covid.
Two flu viruses circulating: one targets the young, the other the old
The SPF epidemiologist reports that there are two influenza viruses circulating this year: H1N1, which affects children and young adults more, and “H3N2, which seems to be becoming the majority and which has a much stronger impact on people elderly. With severe cases, hospitalizations, deaths ”.Playful flu prevention in nursing homes.
The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 has had an impact on the flu vaccination coverage of people aged 65 and over and of the most vulnerable people. This coverage reaches 50% but remains below the “75% recommended by the WHO”. This justifies, for Sybille Bernard-Stoecklin, “to strengthen preventive measures for fragile people, especially in communities of the elderly”.
Julien Rapegno
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