My throat is sore, my nose is swollen
One of the most severe types of ARI, which incapacitates the body for a long time and can leave behind serious health problems, is influenza. To understand how important vaccination against this disease is, it is enough to analyze the numbers: in the 2022-2023 epidemic season, unvaccinated people got the flu almost seven times more often than vaccinated people.
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Covid hasn’t gone away
Sentinel and routine surveillance for influenza is carried out regularly in Belarus. Kirill Ignatov, head of the immunoprophylaxis department of the Republican Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, spoke about this at a press conference:
— According to the 2022-2023 epidemic season, it was found that more than 90% of all patients with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of influenza were not vaccinated against this infection the day before.
Now the country is also registering a seasonal increase in the incidence of respiratory infections, characteristic of the autumn-winter period. Among the patients, children under 18 years of age predominate – they account for more than 58% of all cases. But pneumonia most often affects adults, who account for over 75% of all cases.
— During laboratory examination of these patients, viruses were identified in 53% of cases, including the one that causes the incidence of COVID-19. This indicates that this virus continues to circulate among the population of our country and, unfortunately, has not gone away,” added Kirill Ignatov.
So far, isolated cases of influenza have been reported in Belarus. A laboratory study confirms that all three viruses that are included in the current year’s influenza vaccines are already circulating: A(H1N1), A(H3N2) and B. Mixed forms of different strains of influenza and other respiratory pathogens, such as adenovirus and rhinovirus, are also recorded , rhinosyncytial virus.
A characteristic nuance: today, all cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza have been registered in unvaccinated individuals, which once again emphasizes the effectiveness of vaccination and the importance of carrying out this preventive measure, Kirill Ignatov emphasized.
Measles reproach
Unfortunately, there are already more than 140 confirmed cases of measles in Belarus, and over half of all cases are children. According to Kirill Ignatov, more than 60% of those who have this diagnosis confirmed have never been vaccinated against this infection. The incidence of measles covers all age groups of the population: from children under one year to people over 70 years of age.
It is worth noting that even in the most difficult times of the height of the pandemic, immunization against particularly dangerous childhood infections was not stopped in Belarus. Another thing is that many parents deliberately refused to visit clinics at this time. Unfortunately, insurance against Covid led to the risk of contracting measles.
“A two-time vaccination against measles given in childhood is enough to form immunity; revaccination in this case is not necessary,” explains Victoria Trebukhovskaya, an epidemiologist at the anti-epidemic department of the sanitary-epidemiological department of the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Pervomaisky District of Minsk. — It is possible to carry out vaccination prophylaxis (single vaccination within 72 hours from the moment of contact with a patient with a diagnosis that does not exclude measles) among contact persons (children from 9 months and adults up to 55 years inclusive) who do not have documented information about vaccination against measles, o a history of measles, serological blood test results confirming the presence of protective levels of IgG antibodies to the virus, or have documented information about only one measles vaccination.
Today, domestic healthcare organizations have a vaccine both for vaccination for epidemic indications, that is, for persons in contact with a person with measles, and for preventive vaccinations within the framework of the national preventive vaccination calendar, that is, for children aged 1 year and 6 years.
The main measures to prevent respiratory infections are compliance with respiratory etiquette, social distancing and personal hygiene.
TO THE POINT
Elderly people need increased care due to the expected arrival of the flu season, the chief freelance infectious disease specialist of the Ministry of Health, Igor Karpov, is sure:
— Persons of retirement age need to have everything explained in detail: influenza is a respiratory infection; the main groups in which complications and severe disease most often occur are people over 65 years of age and young children. This is why they should be offered vaccinations first. An important fact: COVID-19 is now being integrated into the system of seasonal respiratory infections. If you remember, last year we talked about a tridemic, when, after the monoprevalence of COVID-19, patients with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus appeared in our clinical practice. This was the beginning of the embedding process, which is now ongoing. Therefore, of course, there is enormous attention to the flu.
Vaccination against influenza in Belarus continues. Six vaccines are available from different producing countries – both trivalent and quadrivalent, that is, containing three or four strains of the virus. Vaccination is carried out both on a paid and free basis.
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2024-01-06 17:36:00
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