In early December, the European Union’s European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint statement expressing concern that the co-circulation of influenza, COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus, the causative agent of viral infections of the respiratory pathways, can also cause bronchopneumonia, exacerbation of chronic bronchitis) could have a significant impact on health services this winter.
The statement also emphasizes that this situation with the spread of several respiratory pathogens makes it difficult to predict how the incidence will develop in the winter. Against this background, headlines about the triple epidemic, or triderma, began to appear in the media.
As told in an interview with Vedomosti, the director of the Research Institute of Influenza. A. A. Smorodintseva Dmitry Lioznov, such a development of events is natural. According to him, this situation is not new, since a large number of respiratory infections caused by various pathogens circulate every year. “We definitely see an influenza epidemic, the spread of RSV infection among children and the circulation of coronavirus. This season, everything is just typical, as it has always been, ”he said, nevertheless adding that the data on the number of cases is still alarming. It is now impossible to predict whether any one pathogen will dominate in the future, as was the case with coronavirus earlier in 2020, he explained.
“We have been living in a period of uncertainty for the third year. That is, the patterns that were before the pandemic are now completely broken, and every season, and this is the third season, is different from the previous one. The task is always to prepare the healthcare system for a possible unfavorable increase in the incidence of influenza, coronavirus and other acute respiratory viral infections,” Lioznov summed up.
The director of the Research Institute of Influenza also noted that in Russia, against the background of the coronavirus, the attitude towards influenza and SARS has changed (“any cold is better than covid”), but the flu should also be treated with caution, as it can cause complications in the form of pneumonia, lesions of the central nervous system, etc., recalls Lioznov.
In Russia, the incidence of influenza continues to grow, in the 50th week of this year (from December 12 to December 18), this figure increased by almost 16%, despite the fact that the number of vaccinated in the country is 52.2% of the total number of Russians (76 million people ), noted earlier Rospotrebnadzor. According to the Research Institute of Influenza, the epidemic thresholds for the incidence of influenza and SARS at the 50th week were increased by 20% in 58 cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Vladivostok, etc.
A (H1N1) remains the most common influenza variant, with A (H3N2) being diagnosed as well. In mid-December, President Vladimir Putin also drew attention to the increased incidence, saying that he had been vaccinated. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, local Rospotrebnadzors have advised residents to wear masks, and in many regions of Russia, schools have transferred children to distance learning.