The Australian flu lands in Italy at the end of 2022 and the alert goes off. Infections increase, the peak of cases is expected for Christmas, when the holidays seem destined to be conditioned by the symptoms caused by the ‘Darwin virus’: fever, chills, bone and muscle pain, headache, sore throat, cough. The short incubation, about 1-2 days, precedes the actual flu which generally lasts 3-5 days but which can also last beyond the limit of a week.
The ISS points out that most people recover within a week without requiring medical treatment and in healthy subjects the flu rarely gives rise to complications. Particular attention should be paid to cases involving pregnant women, children between 6 months and 5 years, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases or undergoing therapies that weaken the immune system, seriously obese, health personnel. For healthy people affected by flu the main treatment is rest at home, stay warm and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. The ISS recalls that paracetamol or ibuprofen can be taken if necessary to lower the temperature if the fever is high and relieve pain. In case of situations at risk or patients with frailty, it is advisable to contact the family doctor.
The vaccine helps prevent the flu. If you contract the disease, the chances of not developing particularly serious symptoms increase. The immunity guaranteed by the vaccine ‘works’ about two weeks after administration and gradually decreases within 6-8 months.
Overall, 8-10 million seasonal cases of flu are expected. “The flu epidemic curve has risen in such a way as to predict, if the trend remains at these levels, the highest peak in the last 15 years. And it could be reached before Christmas because the values have grown significantly”, Silvestro Scotti, general secretary of the Federation of general practitioners (Fimmg) told beraking latest news Salute.
“If we consider the peak as a mountain – continues Scotti – we will practically have a peak of 4,000 meters instead of 3,000. Due to influenza, peaks are usually always reached with the same incidence, then there is a plateau and follows the descent. The trend as it is, therefore, suggests a much higher peak than past epidemics”.
Seen from the side of the patients, “this flu is characterized by a very high fever that often frightens, respiratory, sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms”.
“With the Australian flu it will be a tough season, as always there will be deaths, usually between 5 thousand and 15 thousand. The peak is expected at Christmas, about 150 thousand cases a day”, the words of Fabrizio Pregliasco, associate professor of General and applied hygiene at the University of Milan and Irccs director Galeazzi-Sant’Ambrogio, guest of ‘A sheep’s day’ on Rai Radio 1. The flu is back in the spotlight “after 2 years of a more peaceful situation, with anti-covid measures also effective against less invasive viruses”.
“In Australia in August the virus, which is called Darwin, began its run, the season there was the worst in the last 5 years. The range of people who die from the flu fluctuates between 5,000 and 15-20,000 “. When does the peak in Italy arrive? “Estimates tell us it will arrive around the Christmas period, with 150,000 cases per day and a total of 8-10 million seasonal cases.”
“At this point the advice is that, if cases increase, perhaps I would keep the mask on public transport and in crowded places, especially for the elderly and frail. Without reintroducing the obligation as they are thinking in France, but recommending it”, he tells the ‘beraking latest news Salute Massimo Ciccozzi, head of the Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome.
“It is clear that the concern must be for the flu effect on hospitals – recalls Ciccozzi – They must not be clogged with the flu. For this reason, the reasoning on the return of the mask, as a recommendation, could prevent many cases ending up in the emergency room” .