Spain Faces Resurgence of Flu, Overtaking Covid-19 Infection Rates

Respiratory diseases return for Christmas as unwelcome guests to Spain. And an old acquaintance is once again free to roam in the year in which the World Health Organization concluded the international emergency due to Covid-19. We talk about the flu, which has grown by 37.17% in the week before the holidays. The positivity of flu tests carried out in Primary Care has risen from 13 al 20%surpassing Covid-19 in seven days, which has barely increased one point – from 13.3 to 14.3 – in the same period.

The incident has passed from 539.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 739.9 between the week of December 4 to 10, and that of December 11 to 17, according to the weekly report ‘Sentinel Surveillance of Acute Respiratory Infection in Primary Care (IRAs) and in Hospitals (SARI): Flu, COVID-19 and RSV ‘ from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), attached to the Ministry of Health. The updated data does not yet include the festive dates, marked by displacements and reunions, so the infection rate at this time will predictably be higher.

This flu also has a name and surname. According to the Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SIVIRA), 98.2% of the sequenced viruses correspond to influenza type A, registering “an upward slope” in all age groups. And delving deeper into the lineages, 46.3% correspond to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype, more popularly known as H1N1. Another 18.9% belong to AH3N2 viruses, or more simply H3N2. Perhaps their names are familiar to us: H3N2 was the main protagonist of the autumn 2022 flu epidemic in Spain, and H1N1 took over in the unusual resurgence in February of this year.

[Así es la gripe que infectará a cientos de miles de personas este año: el aviso de los médicos]

However, type A viruses were only the prelude to the influenza B epidemic that arrived in the following weeks, with the end of autumn. Those were days in which the coexistence of both viruses made several people – especially children – they got sick in a chain. “Flus can occur continuously, one after the other,” Pedro Gorrotxategi, vice president of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics, explained to EL ESPAÑOL. Types A and B “do not generate crossed or permanent immunity, so they can be infected continuously.”

Is it likely that we will experience another influenza A epidemic at the end of the year, followed by a trough and then a resurgence of influenza B? Everything indicates that it is the script of the ‘new normal’ of respiratory viruses. “The dynamic, it seems, is SARS-CoV-2 [a finales del verano]Respiratory syncytial virus (VRS) [a principios de otoño]gripe A, gripe B [invierno] and, in the end, the appearance of another wave of SARS-CoV-2”, illustrated Adrián Hugo Agguinagalde, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Health Management.

In Agguinagalde’s opinion, this is a “relatively logical” pattern that responds to the normalization of the circulation of seasonal viruses after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, and to the fact that the new coronavirus has found its ‘niche’. ‘ among recurrent infections. However, the phenomenon of co-infections – suffering from infections from different viruses, even in an overlapping way – worries specialists, especially when the flu season is already extending beyond six to eight weeks of highs.

The vaccine protects

It’s not just about Spain: surveillance of flu data in the southern winter has allowed us to observe similar behavior of viruses in the southern hemisphere. In addition, the prolongation of the heat throughout 2023 has delayed the appearance of the ideal meteorological conditions for the proliferation of the flu, with great contrasts between warm days and very cold nights. However, it does not catch specialists off guard: if the vaccine in 2022 had seen its effectiveness plummet against H1N1 and H3N2, this year it is especially prepared for them.

Opt for the vaccination, even if you have already been sick this season, it would therefore be the recommendation. It should be remembered, however, that none of these vaccines is “sterilizing”, stressed Juan Francisco Navarro, president of the Valencian Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Health Management. That is to say, they probably will not prevent contagion, but the infection worsens and leads to bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization. “The vaccine has always been much more effective in preventing admissions due to flu complications. In this it is similar to the Covid vaccine.”

2023-12-26 00:07:06
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