The flu virus is infecting more and more people in the Netherlands. Last week, 103 per 100,000 inhabitants went to their GP with flu-like symptoms, according to research institute Nivel. A week earlier, this number was still at 66 per 100,000.
The current flu Pandemic started in December, before Christmas. An influenza virus was actually found in almost half (47 percent) of the 58 samples taken from patients that were examined in more detail. The remaining patients carried other viruses.
Het Nivel speaks of a flu Pandemic of ‘moderate intensity’. This is the case if between 103 and 172 people per 100,000 Dutch people go to the GP with flu symptoms every week. The actual number of people with the flu is unknown, but is invariably higher because many people get sick at home without consulting their GP.
According to Nivel’s weekly report, last week there was “a striking increase in elderly people aged 65 and older who came to their GP with flu-like symptoms”.
‘Cocktail of Viruses’
Hospitals are busy due to the large number of patients with a respiratory infection, such as the flu. So far, we have succeeded in limiting the consequences for patients, but that requires extra efforts from the healthcare staff.
“A cocktail of viruses,” a spokesman for the Rijnstate hospital in Arnhem calls the situation. In addition to the flu virus, many people with corona and the RS virus also come to the emergency room (ED). Because they have to be nursed separately from each other, so that they do not infect each other, the pressure on the staff is high. People work extra, or staff are hired. “We are pulling out all the stops.”
The current flu Pandemic has not had a major impact on the ins and outs of primary schools. This is what a spokesperson for the PO Council, the sector association for primary education, says after a tour of school boards throughout the Netherlands.
Little chance
During the corona pandemic, the flu barely circulated in the Netherlands. Due to all the measures intended to combat the corona virus, influenza viruses also had little chance of spreading. After the measures were released, another flu Pandemic promptly broke out in March 2022. It had no major peaks and was over after thirteen weeks, which is a normal duration.
The flu is now circulating more than during the previous Pandemic and is therefore at the highest level since the short-lived flu wave of 2020. It was over after a few weeks, probably under the influence of all the corona measures that were introduced at the time.
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