Return theinfluenzabut also the fear of Covid. Family doctors raise the alarm: dozens of phone calls from patients with flu symptoms, who feel a cold, fever and cough coming on and immediately think they have Covid, almost four years after the start of the pandemic (now on its way out) . This is what Silvestro Scotti, general secretary of the Federation of general practitioners (Fimmg), said.
Dozens of phone calls for cough and symptoms
Scotti explains to the Adnkronos Salute agency: «In this period the number of phone calls and Whatsapp messages are out of control. This is also linked to the fact that when there is a cough, or respiratory symptoms, the fear of Covid complications returns. Patients ask to be referred for the diagnosis which is currently linked to a private offer, with the self-test, which in any case does not give us a scientifically valid result, or with the swab”.
The cough, continues Scotti, «leads to the request, even after the flu phase, but with the persistence of the symptom, of many outpatient and home visits. It is the symptom that worries most, because patients link it to the possibility of lung problems. In these cases the suggestion is to dust off the oximeter, which is now present in all homes, and check the saturation as well as the fever. With a good oxygen saturation, above 97, and by consulting your doctor, you can calm down and avoid going to the clinic to avoid spreading the infections. And for this reason the advice, when going to the clinics, is to use a mask.”
Two out of three patients have flu
More and more patients with the flu from family doctors. Today “they represent two thirds of the cases of acute diseases that come to our attention”. Covid cases are less frequent, «which are residual even if they are certainly underestimated because they do not include all the situations with mild or asymptomatic symptoms», explains Silvestro Scotti, according to whom compared to last year «the trend of the flu, this week, it would seem similar, only slightly higher, but this year with the change in the data collection method, which brings together all respiratory diseases, it is a little more complicated to understand how much the flu alone weighs. In any case, it emerges that for the group most at risk, i.e. people over 65, we still have a low caseload, 4 cases out of a thousand, which becomes 12 in children under 4. In the average age we record around 8 cases out of a thousand.”
«The flu has clearly started – continues Scotti – the symptoms are there. It is important to strengthen testing for Covid and strep, because we are seeing many cases of infections linked to this pathogen. We continue to observe gastrointestinal forms that present with initial fever and headache”, continues Scotti who invites, especially the most fragile people “to get vaccinated both against the flu and against Covid. Of course we have a logistical problem, because often, many family doctors complain, we do not receive the two vaccines that could be done together at the same time. In any case, I am confident about the anti-flu campaign but I have more doubts about the anti-Covid one – he concludes – because vaccination hesitancy, in this case, is high”.
Last updated: Wednesday 22 November 2023, 16:55
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2023-11-22 14:15:13
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