Along with Corsica, Occitania and Pays de la Loire, New Aquitaine crossed the epidemic stage the week of December 5 to 11. The flu is spreading across the country.
All regions of metropolitan France are now affected by the influenza epidemic, a “situation usually observed in January” and therefore “exceptionally early this season”, notes Public Health France, in its weekly update broadcast Wednesday, December 14.
In New Aquitaine, the incidence rate of cases seen in general medical consultation is 569 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to feedback from the Sentinelles network (compared to 265 at the national level). An increase also felt at the level of the SOS Médecins association, present only in Limoges, for Limousin.
The hospital system remains relatively spared for the moment by the flu in the three departments, according to statistics from the health monitoring body. On the other hand, currently, the influx of Covid patients is putting health establishments, such as the emergencies of the Limoges University Hospital, under pressure.
The first winter without collective measures
The epidemic is therefore early – “it is not a first in history”, indicates Jean-François Faucher, infectiologist at the Limoges University Hospital –, but will it be virulent?
“It is difficult to predict whether an epidemic will be significant in terms of number of cases or virulence, continues the specialist in infectious diseases. But we live in a special time. In 2020-2021, there was no flu epidemic, and last year it arrived at the end of March-beginning of April, at a time when collective measures were relaxed. It is therefore the first full winter without confinement and without barrier gestures. »
Another phenomenon underlined by the specialist, which might play on the hypothesis of virulence: “immune debt”a concept according to which the population would be less well immunized collectively to fight once morest infections, following two seasons where the intensity of the viruses was lower.
Helene Pommier
