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Annemarie de Jong
Yesterday at 7:40 PM-
Amsterdam
The flu epidemic is over after thirteen weeks. The number of people with the flu has fallen sharply after the peak in recent weeks. That is the conclusion of experts from RIVM, Erasmus MC and Nivel.
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Although you can still have the flu, an influenza virus is much less likely to be found in the throat and nose samples of people with flu-like symptoms. Nivel relies on data from hospitals, laboratories, GGD test streets and general practices, among others.
The flu epidemic only started in March this year. That is extremely late, normally the flu season starts in December or January. The corona measures, which applied in the Netherlands until the beginning of 2022, probably stopped the spread of influenza for almost two years.
Langer
The flu wave lasted about 13 weeks. That is longer than the 9 weeks that a flu epidemic lasts on average in the Netherlands. More than a month ago, experts from the RIVM thought that the epidemic might not have extinguished until the summer. The worst flu wave in the Netherlands was that of 2017-2018. Then, in 18 weeks, about 900,000 people got the flu, about 9,500 people died and 16,000 flu patients were admitted.
flu shot
The flu shot turned out to work better this season than experts initially expected. Preliminary data showed that the vaccination protected 36 percent against an infection with the flu virus type A. That is the type that was dominant in the Netherlands this flu season.
Although the flu epidemic is now over, there are still people who get the flu. Vulnerable people in particular can become seriously ill from the flu virus. The contagious virus mainly spreads through coughing and sneezing.
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