Festive cocktail of influenza, RSV viruses

There has been no letup in viral infections during the Christmas holidays, with the seasonal flu outbreak, which started early this year, and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) plaguing young children and adults alike.

Although for the first time since its emergence to date it is not dominating over other respiratory viruses, Covid-19 continues to afflict a large proportion of the population and poses a particularly dangerous threat to vulnerable groups.

As would be expected, the number of visits to a doctor by people with flu symptoms has been increasing steadily since the end of October, already far exceeding last year’s figure, when Covid-19 dominated.

Tellingly, in the second week of December, 10% of all doctor visits were from patients with influenza-like illnesses, amounting to double the proportion during the peak of last year’s seasonal influenza outbreak. The influenza positivity rate in that week was 34%, when the Covid-19 positivity rate was 8%. 

“Influenza at this time has a high circulation among children, but it now seems to be increasing in the older age groups. From the laboratory investigation of samples collected by the National Public Health Organization (EODY) from symptomatic patients, it can be concluded that RSV has a similar trend with high positivity rates,” EODY Vice President and associate professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Athens’ School of Medicine Dimitris Paraskevis told Kathimerini.

Pediatric hospital emergency rooms paint the same picture, where hundreds of children with viral infections are examined every day.

Indicatively, the waiting time in the emergency room of the Agia Sophia reaches eight hours, while it’s five hours at Aglaia Kyriakou, and two at Pedon Penteli (unusual for this hospital).

However, according to Paraskevis, at the moment the levels of influenza are not higher than in the last viral period before the pandemic (2019-20). Nonetheless, the peak of this epidemic wave has not been reached yet. “The difference lies mainly in the fact that it came earlier,” he noted. 

In contrast, Covid-19 is stable in both cases and hospitalizations. Last week, about 47,500 cases were recorded (-9% compared to the week before) and new hospitalizations were 1,343 (-6%). There was a slight increase in the number of intubated patients, which after several weeks exceeded 100 (104), but also in the number of weekly deaths of patients with Covid-19 (150).