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In the middle of the second Corona wave, this year’s flu season begins. However, so far it appears that the flu wave could be milder this year, also thanks to Corona’s measures.
Hygiene measures have not only slowed the spread of the new coronavirus.
Flu season usually begins in early October, but this year could be different. Hygiene measures introduced in the course of the corona pandemic have a positive side effect: other infectious diseases such as the summer flu have been contained.
For Christian Rohrmann, member of the board of the Swiss Association of General Practitioners and Pediatricians MFE, this development is plausible. “With fewer contacts there are fewer sick people.” Respiratory diseases, that is, diseases that affect the airways, were much less frequent this summer. Pediatricians in particular had much less to do in the spring, as confirmed by Rohrmann. The closed schools and the confinement have broken chains of contagion among children. Rohrmann assumes that the positive effects of hygiene measures also had an impact on other infectious diseases, such as those transmitted by smears or sexually transmitted diseases.
Flu vaccine remains in short supply
Despite requests to get a flu shot, demand for the vaccine hasn’t increased markedly this year, says Rohrmann. “So far, only a few new patients have registered for influenza vaccination in our practice, primarily those who are unsure.” According to a report by SRF, only about two-thirds of the estimated 2.5 million doses of vaccines required by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) should be available in Switzerland. Supplies would run out at the end of October. Pharmacists association Pharmasuisse, on the other hand, estimates that around half of its pharmacies can meet demand and offer the population easy access to vaccination. “In principle, there could be a bottleneck in some pharmacies, but most pharmacies ordered vaccination doses from the beginning.”
At least there is no shortage of drugs at the moment. After hamster purchases in March, drugs sold by pharmacies are below last year’s figures. “It would be understandable if the population had created a supply,” says a Pharmasuisse spokesman. Only vitamin preparations were consistently more popular in the summer than in the previous year: Between June and August, sales of pharmaceuticals classified as vitamins were 10 percent higher than in the previous year. Pharmasuisse only monitors a small part of the market. They do not record the vitamins that were sold at the points of sale.
The few infectious diseases that have increased this summer are early summer meningoencephalitis (TBE) infections transmitted by ticks, as FOPH statistics show. At the end of September 2020, 421 cases of TBE viral infections had been recorded, more than in the entire record year 2018. At that time, 377 TBE cases were reported, last year there were 262 cases. Dr. Christian Rohrmann also sees an increase in Lyme disease, a relatively easy-to-recognize bacterial infection that is also transmitted by ticks in his office. A look at the BAG statistics confirms this observation: here too there is an increase compared to the previous year. Rohrmann suspects that the number of reported TBE and Lyme disease cases has increased, as the Swiss are more sensitive than ten years ago and more likely to see a doctor. Also, more people moved to the Swiss forests this summer due to crown-related distance rules and favorable weather.
Few cases of flu in the laboratory
The experience of the countries of the southern hemisphere gives reason to be cautiously optimistic about the upcoming flu season. According to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), fewer people have contracted the flu and the flu season has been mild compared to the long-term average. According to experts, hygiene measures such as washing hands, wearing a mask and keeping your distance have shown effects. However, statistics should be treated with caution. The WHO writes that the corona pandemic may have deterred people from visiting the doctor and that a certain number of flu cases are being suppressed.
Preliminary laboratory results show at least that the flu season in Switzerland is starting more slowly than in previous years. Ana Rita Gonçalves Cabecinhas, head of the influenza reference laboratory and the Sentinella study at the Geneva University Hospital, sees the new coronavirus and rhinoviruses throughout the year in the laboratory. Other viruses that cause respiratory diseases are underrepresented. But he also cautions against a comparison with last year’s data. “Labs are likely to have different testing strategies and capabilities this year than in previous years.”
This year’s flu epidemic will be “probably as usual, albeit a little milder,” assumes Rohrmann family doctor. However, the growing number of corona cases worries him. The second wave is here, which makes consistent hygiene even more important. “It’s critical to keep the rates of infected people and hospitalizations as low as possible,” says Rohrmann. How the Federal Council’s action on Sunday will affect the number of new infections cannot be assessed for at least two to three weeks.
