High fever for three or four days insensitive to common anti-inflammatories, joint pain, congestion of the upper and middle respiratory tracts, colds and sore throats, sometimes gastro-intestinal disorders such as vomiting and diarrhea: these are the prevalent symptoms of the seasonal flu which this year , contrary to what has been recorded in the last three years, is more virulent and lasts for more days than Covid. The latter however, for the first time as a sign of itself with rather modest clinical pictures, attenuated by the many vaccinations made and by the hundreds of thousands of post-contagion healings. Meanwhile, the sentinel network of paediatricians and family doctors is on maximum alert: the Campania with Sardinia e Calabria it is among the few regions that have not activated case notifications to the national Influnet network.
«With the workloads we have, also linked to vaccinations, we would not have the time to resume screening activities – he warns Silvestro Scotti, national secretary of Fimmg, family medicine union and vice president of the Naples medical association – going back to the swine flu epidemic, we did not see such rapid growth in the period before Christmas. We are in the order of 5 times the average intensity recorded in this period in the last ten years”. For now, the wave is affecting above all children under the age of 5 but progressively all age groups are affected: «We already have dozens of phone calls from our patients. – he concludes – It is clear that the peak expected at Christmas would require an ad hoc plan such as is being prepared at Santobono. Saturating our territorial filter in the face of the chronic congestion of emergency rooms would mean generating chaos on the front lines of hospitals. I am actively proposing to my most vulnerable patients to get vaccinated ». He is therefore concerned about the wave of full expectation at Christmas and which will last at least two or three weeks with inevitable hospitalization rates and even higher mortality in the population groups undermined by advanced age and previous pathologies. “Clearly it is the frail elderly who need to be protected – he adds Pina Tommasielli, general practitioner – Among other things, the network of family doctors in Naples is remodeled by early retirements while of the 80 colleagues recruited this summer from the regional rankings, about 10 percent have given up ». And if the health personnel sound the alarm, Governor De Luca is no less. «There is a dramatic situation in the emergency rooms, there is no staff – Vincenzo De Luca said yesterday – we should take extraordinary measures, or to reduce the marginal emergency departments if we want to keep them open. Or even employing young doctors who have just graduated from specialization schools in hospitals».
And in fact, reading the data, the strong growth in the number of cases of flu-like syndromes in Italy continues. The incidence is equal to 16 cases per thousand assisted (13.1 in the previous week) and is heading towards a profile of maximum intensity, dangerous due to the impact on hospitals. The incidence is increasing in all age groups, but the most affected are the pediatric ones (50.2 cases per thousand assisted, a figure of maximum impact on the pediatric networks). «The incidence curve – he confirms Saverio Annunziata, family doctor – is in clear and rapid growth and is combined with that of Sars-Cov-2 with now hypercrowded studios. Due to the dozens of requests for therapeutic and diagnostic prescriptions and various types of certifications, we are saturated». The request for flu vaccination is therefore rapidly growing: it can be done by family doctors and pediatricians, in pharmacies and in the districts, free of charge in all population groups at risk by age (over 65 years) and by pathology. Asl Napoli 1 has launched an ad hoc plan. The average of over 65 vaccinated at regional level is around 50 % with peaks around 75/80 % in some districts The use of masks is recommended for all the fragile.