2023-11-05 07:00:00
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In autumn and winter there is more flu – but other viruses are also buzzing through the air: The Starnberg Clinic is prepared for all eventualities. © Starnberg Clinic
Fürstenfeldbruck/Starnberg – The cold season has begun and the number of colds has increased significantly in the last three weeks. The practices in the district and the region are filling up with flu-stricken patients. However, doctors and hospital doctors do not expect a real wave to occur until December at the earliest.
At the moment, no one expects that this fall and winter will be as bad as last year. According to their own statements, the hospitals are ideally equipped for all colds and corona variants that are currently occurring. And: The corona pandemic has apparently wiped out an influenza variant.
Last year, the children’s department at the Starnberg Clinic was bursting at the seams; the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV for short, infected mainly small children, some of whom had to be treated in intensive care and isolated. Professor Dr. Thomas Lang, medical director and chief physician of the clinic for pediatric and adolescent medicine at the Starnberg Clinic, sounded the alarm last December, describing the situation in the children’s ward as dramatic. On the one hand because of the extremely high number of sick children, but also because following Corona and the severe stress during the pandemic, the carers were completely exhausted and drained. The children’s ward at the Starnberg Clinic now has a central monitor system that monitors the small patients in their rooms. Before this system, which cost around 150,000 euros, might be purchased this summer, the staff had to be completely “suited” for every alarm.
Most of the time it was a false alarm, for example because a child rolled over in his sleep and pulled off an electrode. Parents often had to step in to monitor the little patients, although they were obviously overwhelmed by the situation. Now someone is constantly sitting at the monitor screens in the children’s ward in Starnberg and can immediately organize help in an emergency. And: Time-consuming logging by hand is no longer necessary because the system documents and saves the process. This means that the development of small patients can be analyzed at the push of a button.
On the subject of RSV disease, children’s clinic chief physician Professor Lang told our newspaper when asked: “I expect it to be weaker this year than last year – and that it will also occur later. I’m expecting December.” Nevertheless, it is clear that the region is dealing with a wave of illnesses. Compared to the previous year following Corona, adults and children are indeed better immunized when it comes to flu and cold viruses (due to Corona and the associated protective measures such as wearing a mask and blocking contact, there were hardly any colds), but anything is possible with viruses including Sars-CoV-2. The city of Munich’s wastewater monitoring, for example, shows that more people are currently becoming infected with the corona virus strain.
The infections are not particularly long-term, the basic immunization of the population is sufficient through vaccinations and infections, so that doctors assume that the course of the disease will be rather mild. As far as the flu situation is concerned, Professor Dr. Florian Krötz, the chief physician of the medical clinic at the Starnberg Clinic, told our newspaper, “The Starnberg Clinic is well prepared for all expected waves of colds such as flu or the current Covid19 wave. We advise all at-risk patients to get vaccinated.”
Fürstenfeldbruck’s clinic director Alfons Groitl also commented on the upcoming flu wave in autumn and winter to our newspaper. Experience in hospital operations shows that various illnesses increase seasonally – influenza in the coming months. If a patient presents to you with typical symptoms, he or she will be tested for influenza and corona using a special test. “The patients are isolated in a ward and cared for and treated in accordance with the applicable hygiene regulations,” says Groitl. Accordingly, tests will now be increased, and vaccinations will be offered to hospital employees through company medicine.
Medicines have been in short supply for some time – here too, the Bruck Clinic is prepared for emergencies: “There have been supply bottlenecks for medicines for around two years. Initially the assumption was that the supply chains interrupted by Corona were to blame and that things would return to normal. Unfortunately, this did not happen. As soon as a delivery bottleneck arises, an alternative list of medications is drawn up with the pharmacy that supplies us, which is distributed to the prescribing doctors. The close coordination between the medical service and pharmacists has always allowed us to find alternative preparations,” explains the clinic board. The clinic is therefore not concerned that there will be a shortage.
They also believe they are well positioned should a virus like Covid 19 spread in the district. Experience has shown that the clinic can adapt flexibly to new challenges. “Our provisions for 24/7 operation are currently in place and do not need to be revised. There is an alarm and deployment plan for exceptional situations or a cluster of patients,” says Groitl.
By the way: Due to the strict corona restrictions, contact bans and mask-wearing imposed by many countries, the pandemic has apparently wiped out the influenza strain B. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these measures significantly reduced seasonal influenza waves between 2020 and 2022. Now you have to get used to it once more.
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