Last winter there were about 4,000 flu deaths in Austria. The 2022/23 flu season, which was expected to be strong after the first two years of the pandemic, led to similarly high casualties as averaged about every five years. This is according to data released on Wednesday by the Agency for Health and Food Security (AGES). For 2021/22, the statisticians indicated 652 flu deaths, none at all last winter due to the effect of the corona measures.
Since there is no obligation to report flu in Austria, the number of flu deaths must be recorded using “alternative systems,” explained Bernhard Benka, head of the AGES Public Health division, in an interview with the APA. The method of calculation was changed this year and Statistics Austria’s monthly open data publications showing the number of deaths – without causes of death – per calendar week, established during the pandemic, were used for the first time, AGES statistician Lukas Richter reported. “The new thing is that we get timely and better quality data,” says Benka. The AGES figures for flu deaths from previous years therefore changed retroactively, but the pandemic years could also be estimated retrospectively for the first time, the expert explains.
Strong increase since Corona
The so-called flu-related excess mortality in calendar weeks 40 to 20 of the years 2022/23 was calculated by AGES with 4020 affected. Within the range of variation (95 percent confidence interval), there were 3578 to 4462 flu deaths. In the last entire winter before the 2018/2019 corona pandemic, there were an estimated 2022 flu victims, in the season before (2017/2018) 4277 and in the winter months 2016/2017 with 4939, according to the AGES estimate, the highest number of flu deaths in the world. past seven years.
In the case of flu and flu-like illnesses, there were relatively high cases at the end of 2022 and the first signs of flu (“true flu”) early in the autumn. Benka spoke of a return to “normalcy” after the first years of the corona pandemic. The fact that there were no more deaths from the flu than in previous years may be due to the fact that many over-65s, who are also vulnerable to the flu, had already died from Covid-19.
Expert recommends that children also be vaccinated
During the 2022/23 flu wave, there was also a fuss about several children who died as a result of a flu infection. Further analysis by AGES of flu mortality will only be able to distinguish between those over 65 and those under 65 and will not show the number of children who have died, Benka explained when asked by APA. It happens again and again that children die “from a fulminant flu,” the infection expert reminded, pointing to the flu vaccination, which is recommended not only for the elderly, but also for pregnant women and children.
Richter explained that additional flu or covid indicators are included in the modeling for calculating flu deaths. Following the recent expiration of the obligation to report Covid-19, AGES also plans to calculate excess mortality from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the future, Benka said. This requires, for example, the number of people with severe respiratory infections (“SARI”) in inpatient hospital treatment and the wastewater analysis data.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
