Alex Trelinski
CASES of flu and other respiratory viruses are set to peak next week in the Balearics on the back of the Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastian fiestas.
Virology chief at Palma’s Son Espases Hospital, Jordi Reina, said: “We calculate that by the middle of next week, we will reach the maximum peak of flu cases and therefore the biggest impact on health.”
Influenza is the main virus leading to an upturn in hospital admissions in the Balearics with the mass gatherings of people at the fiestas expected to cause additional contagion.
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The elderly and children are most at risk with 75% of the cases being caused by influenza A, which mainly affects people over 65 years of age (represent up to 90% of hospital flu patients).
The other infections are from influenza B, with a strong predominance among children under 10 years of age.
Reina said that influenza B had increased the most compared to last year, and since it peaks every two years, the rise ‘was expected’.
Some coronavirus cases have been detected- around three or four per week, along with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which mainly affects children but the peak has already passed.
Jordi Reina also said it was regrettable that flu and coronavirus vaccinations won’t get above 50% of the population in the Balearics.
“Every year we sit down and we cannot work out why we can’t improve vaccination rates,” he commented.
“I believe people consider that the flu is not a disease to be vaccinated,” Reina said, citing a study that shows 40% of people refusing jabs because they consider influenza ‘has no significance’.
The virologist said vaccine campaigns from the Ministry of Health have had little effect and suggests that children should be vaccinated in schools, given that only 30% of that age group is covered.
“Children catching flu are a key element as they then infect the elderly, their siblings, and their family. The flu starts with them and ends in them,” he stressed.
