2024-01-18 15:10:02
▲ Lim Seong-hyeon, Chairman of Ulsan Hospital
There are far more flu patients this winter than in previous winters. The Ulsan hospital where I work is the only hospital among all general hospitals in Ulsan that received a 100-point grade 1 in the pneumonia adequacy evaluation, so it is being visited more and more often. Symptoms range from mild to severe, but the number of patients is greater than ever before. I saw an article that said it was regarding 6 times higher than before the pandemic. And ironically, the operation of screening clinics across the country ended not long ago. Flu and coronavirus tests are no longer conducted outside the hospital. As it is now, even at the time of the epidemic a year or two ago, Ulsan Hospital was the only hospital in the Nam-gu area capable of self-analysis of PCR tests, so I remember being surprised by the crowds lined up in front of the screening clinic every morning to get tested. The end of the screening clinic is a declaration of the end of the pandemic situation and is a happy event, but there are currently too many patients with respiratory infectious diseases such as coronavirus and flu. Why is this like this?
Opinions are divided to pinpoint the exact cause. Still, when I think regarding a few things, it seems that the fact that this is the first winter following the pandemic and we face it without masks has an impact. It used to be mandatory, but it is no longer so, so it is true that the environment is generally vulnerable to respiratory infectious diseases. Due to the long period of wearing masks, people, especially children, are believed to have a weakened natural immunity. Another cause and characteristic is that flu and respiratory diseases themselves have become more diverse. Usually, when the flu is prevalent, one or two of the two types of influenza A and type B flu occur, or they spread sequentially, but this winter, everything is mixed and re-confirmations are frequent. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to be immediately diagnosed with another flu virus, such as once infected with the H1N1 virus type A, and soon following getting better, contracting the H3N2 virus type A once more, and there are many cases of reinfection with the coronavirus.
The problem is that it is not yet clear whether this is caused by a decrease in overall immunity or a change in the pattern of the respiratory disease itself. Flu vaccines are made slightly differently every year. Every year, the products are manufactured globally to determine which virus they will target, so if the forecast or demand is different, it can spread unexpectedly, but it is also not clear whether this is the case in the current situation.
There are still many cases of coronavirus rather than the flu. COVID-19 is no longer a class 1 infectious disease, but the damage it causes is not small. As a result, there are currently too many patients with respiratory diseases, and local clinics are even running out of fluids. As there are quite a few cases of people visiting hospitals only when they have developed severe pneumonia, the isolation rooms in hospitals are running at capacity, and it is unclear whether this is limited to this winter. This may be too forward-thinking, but some say that in the future, we may need to be more careful of a multidemic phenomenon, in which several types of respiratory infectious diseases spread at the same time to the extent that it is difficult to handle, rather than a pandemic in which a single fatal disease such as coronavirus breaks out. No, since various types of respiratory diseases are already prevalent, it would not be an exaggeration to call the current winter situation that way.
Since last year, the government has been discussing with local hospitals across the country to prepare emergency treatment beds in preparation for pandemic situations. Ulsan Hospital, where I work, also applied, and since the hospitals applying across the country are expected to be designed and constructed collectively under government control, it will be carefully constructed over a period of regarding a year. It was originally promoted to prepare for new infectious diseases, but looking at the current trend, it appears that it will be necessary even if such infectious diseases do not occur. This is because we cannot ignore the possibility that the current situation where various types of respiratory infectious diseases are prevalent will worsen in the future.
In this way, January 2024 seems to show that the respiratory diseases in daily life that have raised awareness among people over the past few years are not yet over. Is there actually an end? It may already be a different aspect of daily life. Many people, including the author working in the hospital industry, have had homework since the beginning of the year. All that remains is for everyone to work together to solve the problem.
Lim Seong-hyun, Chairman of Ulsan Hospital
1705601833
#경상시론New #Year #Flu
