Weird changes! “Annual flu season” replaces autumn and winter peaks Taiwan doctor: Three ethnic groups may suffer 295
CNEWS confluence news network reporter Chen Junkai / report from Taipei
If you thought that the flu can only occur in autumn and winter, you are so wrong! Huang Limin, a professor of pediatrics at National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital, warned that the epidemic of influenza has risen against the trend since the lifting of the ban on masks. Now the whole year may be flu season. He reminded three major risk groups, including the elderly over 65 years old, chronically ill patients, and children. Groups at high risk of moderate to severe disease must have a new concept of year-round protection.
According to statistics, since the ban on masks was lifted in Taiwan in April this year, the number of confirmed cases of influenza has gradually increased. In the past six months, more than 300 cases of severe influenza have been reported, marking a new high in three years. The phenomenon.
Huang Limin said that now spring and summer have also become flu seasons. He explained that there are multiple respiratory viruses such as influenza virus and new coronavirus in the upper respiratory tract of the human body that compete together. During the past three years of the epidemic, the rate of influenza infection was initially reduced due to the strong epidemic of the new coronavirus. However, with the strong period of the new coronary pneumonia virus In the past, the upper respiratory virus ecosystem has changed significantly, prompting the resurgence of influenza epidemics.
In addition, scholars from various countries have clearly observed that the influenza virus breaks the routine of epidemics in autumn and winter. Taking Australia, which lifted the mask regulations earlier, as an example, the influenza epidemic appeared earlier in the summer last year, and the influenza epidemic in Taiwan also has the same phenomenon.
Huang Limin believes that influenza virus has become a disease that must be actively protected throughout the year. It is recommended that high-risk groups with moderate to severe illness should actively receive influenza vaccines to accumulate sufficient disease resistance and avoid the risk of moderate to severe illness or even death after infection.
Zhan Dingzheng, director of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital, emphasized that the elderly over 65 years old are affected by the aging of the immune system. Compared with ordinary people, the protection of influenza vaccination is not only less than half, and the duration of the vaccine is only 5 months. It is recommended that the elderly should be regularly vaccinated against influenza every year Vaccines, and choose vaccine formulations suitable for the elderly to obtain complete vaccine protection.
Photo source: CNEWS file photo/photographed by reporter Chen Junkai
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2023-07-26 08:17:09
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