This year’s flu wave continues, even if the high values of the end of 2022 will no longer be achieved. A current US study with data from 2021/2022 could explain why flu is so common this season: previously lower illness rates and fewer vaccinations during the Covid 19 wave. During the pandemic, the infection rate of flu in the nearest private environment was twice as high as before the coronavirus.
Melissa Rolfes of the Centers for Disease Control and Infectious Diseases (CDC) Division of Influenza (CDC; Atlanta, Georgia) and her co-authors analyzed previous strain A(H3N2) flu infections in US households in five US states. Household data in the pre-Covid-19 period (2017 to 2020) and during the 2021/2022 flu season were compared.
The infection rate in the nearest private environment has risen sharply
In their publication on the JAMA Network on Thursday, the scientists found clear differences between the time before and during Covid-19: “During the prepandemic flu seasons, 152 cases were recorded among 353 household contacts. During the 2021/2022 flu season, there were 84 cases of illness among 186 household contacts.
Less immunity due to weak flu wave for Corona
The American scientists have several possible explanations for the phenomenon of increased infections in households: In the years before 2021/2022 there would have been only relatively weak flu waves. This could have led to less immunity against surviving diseases. A drop in flu vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic may also have contributed to this.
Also in the US an “abnormally” strong flu wave
What the US scientists discovered for the winter of 2021/2022 has probably been repeated in recent weeks – with some variation in timing. Like Europe, the United States experienced an “abnormally” early and severe flu outbreak in late 2022/early 2023. In the first days of this year, 79 flu deaths were recorded among children in the US.
Source: Krone
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