2023-08-24 23:07:40
Hot-cold, cold-hot… in this period when we don’t even know how to dress, whether to put away our ti palto or not, many people find themselves with an itchy throat and a sore nose. flows. Some have even been dragging symptoms oscillating between flu, gastro or even Covid for several weeks. Simple fact of seasonality or more fragile immunity? Doctors opt for the first response and are not particularly worried
Charlene is 32 years old. For several weeks, she has been coughing, has a headache, has a runny nose, a real ordeal. “When I no longer had a runny nose, I had a sore throat, when I no longer had a sore throat, I no longer had a voice and after all that, even if it’s better, I still cough a lot.”
In his family, viruses spread. “Every week I went to the doctor, either for me, or for my companion, or for my son.”
And she is not the only one in her case. Other Reunionese have also been dragging the same symptoms for weeks. “Fever, headache, no appetite, body aches… It’s a very bad flu, my doctor told me,” says Mireille, 56, to us.
Another case is that of Jean, 70, who caught the flu twice in the space of a month.
Read also – Flu, gastro…: viral diseases are making a comeback
– Younger and more fragile patients –
So many viruses, runny noses, fevers, in such a short time is enough to exhaust the body and the immunity.
But then has our immunity become more sensitive since the fall of anti-Covid masks?
In the offices of health professionals, the feeling is not for a drop in immunity. However, doctors confirm the fact that the flu affects the youngest this year, “hence the impression of fragility”, notes Christine Kowalczyk, president of the National Confederation of Liberal Physicians in Reunion.
After “it varies by type and age,” she says. “Those who already have it or are vaccinated are more immune.”
The general practitioner in Saint-André tells us, “all people, some people relapse, some have a mild form of the virus and others drag it on for weeks”.
But what is changing now – and in particular following the Covid – “is that before each seasonal epidemic, people did not realize the epidemic, at least not more than usual and now people are doing it. pay more attention”, observes Christine Kowalczyck.
Another professional located in Le Tampon explains, “there has always been an annual variability of seasonal and influenza epidemics”.
According to the Regional Health Agency (ARS), “the winter period is conducive to the circulation of viruses”. However, “the number of consultations with general practitioners in Reunion in 2023 is similar to the years 2021 and 2022 at the same period, or even lower”.
– Too much protection… reduces (a little) immunity –
If immunity is not scientifically weaker, “there may be situations with multiple infections”, notes Doctor Patrick Mavingui, microbiologist and research director at CNRS Réunion, also responsible within the Mixed Unit for research infectious process in a tropical island environment.
“Small infection, small flu, cold period… the conjunction of all this increases the fragility of individuals”, he adds.
Add to that environmental allergens and you have the perfect cocktail to get sick.
Does fragility have a link with the Covid and the masked period that the Reunionese had to face for several months?
“We have often developed a form of immunity to allergens, but with the mask they no longer pass. And now, without the masks, some individuals can be more fragile”, explains Doctor Patrick Mavingui.
“After all this remains factual. We cannot only speculate on science. In history, it was said, we developed immunity in contact with pathogens with which we lived in symbiosis and when the interaction fades , it can trigger the disease. But this is not the case with all individuals,” he adds.
– The epidemic is fading –
Rest assured, some still fall ill, the flu epidemic should soon come to an end.
According to the latest figures from Public Health France – published on Friday August 18 -, “if the virus is rife, Reunion enters the post-epidemic phase”.
The number of emergency visits was stable with 19 visits. Hospitalizations, on the other hand, were down with four hospitalizations (compared to six last week).
People under the age of 15 representing 21% of emergency room visits for flu-like illness.
In community medicine, the share of activity for acute respiratory infections (ARI) is on the other hand increasing with 4.0% of activity.
The gastronomy does not escape Reunion Islanders either. Last week (August 7 to 13), the number of emergency visits for gastroenteritis of all ages increased with 58 visits compared to 53 the previous week. The number of hospitalizations was also increasing with 11 hospitalizations
Read also – Influenza: the virus is still raging but Reunion is entering the post-epidemic phase
– Don’t panic… it’s not necessarily the Covid –
And if we talk about the flu, some Reunionese necessarily think of Covid-19 – the symptoms being similar.
However, the number of visits to the emergency room for reasons of Covid-19 continues to decline with three visits against eight visits the week before. Two of the passages involved people over the age of 65 and one passage was under the age of 15.
Only one hospitalization after a visit to the emergency room was recorded.
Should we then already be thinking of putting on the masks again? Faced with the increase in cases and the new variant in France, the Minister of Health does not rule out making the wearing of the mask compulsory again if necessary but above all calls for its “trivialization”.
“As soon as we have symptoms or are in contact with fragile people, we resume the reflex of putting on the mask”, explains Aurélien Rousseau on BFMTV this Monday.
Aurelien Rousseau (@aur_rousseau), Minister of Health, calls for “resuming the reflex of putting on a mask” as soon as “we have a symptom or are in contact with fragile people” pic.twitter.com/RrHdQ5ybD5
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) August 21, 2023
In addition, a new vaccination campaign is also planned for the fall, targeting those most at risk such as those over 65, the immunocompromised or pregnant women.
In Reunion, concerning the new Eris variant (EG.5), if it has been detected in France, “it is not in Reunion to date”, specifies the ARS.
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