“With the Australian flu, it’s going to be a tough season.” To say it is Fabrizio Pregliasco, associate professor of general and applied hygiene at the University of Milan. There are already many Italians at home with fever, colds and other symptoms, but the peak – according to the expert – will arrive at Christmas, when we will have “about 250,000 cases a day”. The flu is affecting children more, above all because the little ones, especially from 0 to 2 years of age, have never encountered these viruses. At the moment, however, it is impossible to say whether the cases are more serious or burdened with complications than in previous years, the doctors explain. The balance sheets are made at the end of the flu season, therefore in the spring of 2023. But in the meantime, what do you need to know about the Australian flu? How is the situation and who has to pay more attention?
Paola Pedrini, general secretary of Fimmg Lombardia (the Italian federation of general practitioners), explains that “we family doctors in Lombardy have very full studies and there is everything: flu and even covid. We swab for scruple, to exclude Sars-CoV-2, and instead we still find some positive ones, even if the impression is that covid is inferior to flu syndromes. There are really a lot of symptoms: flu, upper respiratory tract, fever, and so on The classic of these seasonal viruses. And the situation has already exploded”.
How to “solve”? There are two tools we have at our disposal to counter this influence, according to experts. “It would be enough to get the flu vaccine, perhaps even recover the use of the mask, which we are forgetting a bit – explains Pedrini -. This applies to covid, but also to these viruses. It would certainly be a help: it is what has protected us over the years gone by and it can help us again.”
In addition to the little ones, according to the partial data available so far, the Australian flu mainly affects young workers. “This means that sickness certificates must also be drawn up and therefore double work for family doctors, both in the outpatient clinic and back office, between the morning and the afternoon. For this reason, the mask can be of great help, above all to reduce the spread of these viruses “, reiterated Paola Pedrini.
Australian flu symptoms
And what are the symptoms manifested by the virus? According to the expert, it is always necessary to distinguish the various types of viruses: “Some forms last even a week, while in others patients go one day without fever and then return. The symptoms last an average of five days and can include symptoms such as fever very high, rising rapidly, bone pain, sore throat, runny nose, lack of appetite”. Influenza is generally characterized by a sudden onset of general and respiratory symptoms, after an incubation that is generally quite short (about 1-2 days) and which usually last for 3-4 days, although they can last for one to two weeks.
Fever, which usually occurs abruptly, is therefore often accompanied by chills, bone and muscle pain, headache, severe general malaise, sense of tiredness (asthenia), muscle pain (myalgia), sore throat, cold, cough not catarrhal and conjunctivitis. After the incubation days, the real flu syndrome is characterized by fever, symptoms of the respiratory tract (which are always affected) and general manifestations involving the whole organism. In particular, fever occurs suddenly and is generally high (above 38°C) in children with peaks even up to 39-40°C, accompanied by cough (usually dry), widespread bone and muscle pain, headache feeling very unwell (exhaustion), sore throat and runny nose.
The cough can be severe and very annoying, it can last up to two weeks or more. Other symptoms such as photophobia (excessive sensitivity and intolerance to light) and loss of appetite may be present. Symptoms affecting the gastrointestinal tract, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, are not common, as they are usually caused by influenza-like viruses, but they can occur especially in children.
Possible treatments
How is this flu treated and who should pay more attention? According to Giovanni Rezza, director of the prevention department of the Ministry of Health, “even the treatments do not change. Take antipyretics to lower the temperature, drink a lot, rest and no antibiotics unless indicated by the doctor when faced with a suspected complication bacterial. Let’s remember again that antibiotics do not work against viruses “.
Vaccination is certainly a way to fight the virus, and there are groups for whom doing so must be a priority. “It should be recommended for the elderly, for whom the adjuvanted formulation is preferable, and for the frail. It can be done easily together with the fourth dose against Sars-CoV-2, it is recommended for pregnant women. For these groups of the population it is free”, he explained Rezza.