With a month-long delay and nearly two years of absence, the influenza epidemic is back, especially affecting the youngest.
Attention, this March, the flu suddenly returns. While the peak usually occurs in February, the proportion of medical consultations for influenza-like syndromes jumped 95% in one week according to Public Health France.
All regions are now affected by the influenza virus, with the exception of Corsica. Outside mainland France, Guyana was also attacked, but other provinces survived.
“Very exceptional”
The relaxation of barrier gestures for a few weeks and the start of the school year explains this late peak. But not only.
“Une épidémie en mars, c’est très exceptionnel. Le Covid a circulé de manière extrêmement importante jusque-là et provoquait tellement de cas qu’il était difficile pour le virus de la grippe d’essayer de circuler temps en mê,” to me RMC Bruno Lina, Professor of Virology.
‘Children are the engine of the epidemic’
Another peculiarity, the influenza epidemic mainly affects the youngest. Bruno Lina asserts that “children are the real driver of the influenza epidemic. They infect the largest members of the family.”
This flu wave remains below levels observed in 2019-2020, just before Covid, and especially 2018-2019 when the pandemic was particularly strong.