Source: [Health Times] Health Times authoritative health information, trusted because of its professionalism! Li Yanming, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Beijing Hospital, Jiang Yawen, associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University School of

Source: [Health Times]

Health Times

Authoritative health information, trusted because of your professionalism!

Li Yanming

Beijing Hospital Respiratory

and Critical Care Medicine

Department Director

Jiang Yawen

Sun Yat-sen University Public

School of Health (Shenzhen)

Associate Professor

Immediately welcomed October, and it is the high-influenza season again.

National influenza monitoring results show that in October every year, all parts of my country have entered the winter and spring epidemic season ①. Globally, the annual epidemic of influenza causes up to 5 million severe diseases and up to 650,000 deaths②. In China, the number of influenza in China in 2021 was 668,200, accounting for 10.72% of the total number of infectious diseases in the country③.

Recently, the Chinese Society of Preventive Medicine, the Asia-Pacific Influenza Control Alliance, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, co-sponsored the "2022 World Influenza Conference", with the theme of "The new crown has not gone, the flu is back: Are you ready?" I hope to take this opportunity to remind the public to pay attention to influenza and prevent influenza well.

The flu may make a comeback this year, don’t be careless!

Entering autumn, the number of fever clinics in some medical institutions has increased significantly. Under normalized prevention and control of the epidemic, why did the flu sweep again this fall?

"The transmission ability and clinical manifestation of the influenza virus are related to the dominant strains, so the impact on the population every year is not completely consistent." Jiang Yawen, associate professor at the School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, said that after the first half of 2020, due to the impact of epidemic prevention and control measures, the spread of influenza has also been suppressed to a certain extent, and the incidence rate has dropped rapidly. However, in the past two years, more susceptible people have accumulated. In addition, the level of influenza vaccination in my country is relatively low, so the flu has made a comeback since 2022. There has also been a peak in summer influenza in southern my country, and the number of influenza-like cases has significantly exceeded the data in the same period in previous years, most of which are influenza A.

Professor Li Yanming, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Beijing Hospital, also said that the flu in my country will be more severe from the 2021 to 2022 flu season, and summer flu also occurs this year. "The situation during the flu period from 2022 to 2023 is not optimistic. We need to tighten the anti-fluenza string!" Professor Li Yanming reminded.

These five groups should especially prevent flu

influenza. Most people can heal themselves or accelerate the relief of symptoms by taking medication. However, it should be noted that there are several groups of people who need to pay attention to it. They are at a higher risk of influenza infection, have a long duration of symptoms, and are more likely to cause related complications such as pneumonia.

Therefore, Professor Li Yanming reminds that these people need to be more active in dealing with influenza, including prevention, early diagnosis, early medication, etc.

1. Children

≤5 years old, especially children ≤2 years old, have not yet been fully functional and their respiratory system is still in the growth and development stage. After encountering influenza, it is more likely to form severe diseases, and the other is often the "core" of influenza transmission. If a child gets influenza, it is easy to spread to children who come into contact with him. He will also bring the influenza virus back to his family, while parents may bring the influenza virus to society again.

2. The elderly

The elderly are more likely to develop severe illness after they have influenza and are more likely to cause complications, such as cardiovascular complications, pulmonary complications or other problems, which seriously endanger health. Nearly 50% of the people who die from influenza each year are elderly people. For the elderly, in addition to preventing the flu itself, we also need to prevent a series of problems caused by the flu.

The elderly often have influenza symptoms, and they may not necessarily experience typical flu symptoms such as high fever, general fatigue, and chills. During the flu epidemic season, as long as they feel uncomfortable or look in a wrong state, they must think about the possibility of flu, especially those who already have symptoms such as fever and cough at home, and take the elderly to the hospital as soon as possible.

3. Chronic disease population

For example, chronic disease population with respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD, being infected with influenza will naturally cause "double damage".There are also people with cardiovascular diseases. Influenza itself can cause cardiovascular complications. If the cardiovascular itself has a disease foundation, it will be even more serious.

In addition, if there is cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, liver function damage, and kidney function damage, complications are also prone to occur in the face of the "strike" of influenza, causing the worsening of the underlying disease and leading to poor prognosis of the patient.

4. Obese people

Obesity is one of the very important risk factors for poor influenza prognosis, especially after adults have influenza, obese people generally have poor prognosis.

5. Pregnant women

For pregnant women, influenza will not only affect the pregnant women themselves, but also affect the fetus, and even cause unexpected situations such as miscarriage.

Remember 3 points when dealing with influenza

1. Get influenza vaccination

Professor Jiang Yawen said that influenza vaccine is still one of the most effective means to prevent influenza. Before the winter and spring influenza season arrives, people with conditions should receive influenza vaccination as early as possible, especially key groups such as the elderly, children, people with underlying diseases, medical workers and pregnant women.

"In addition, for some people who appear more frequently in crowded places and are more vulnerable, it is also recommended that they give priority to influenza vaccination, such as nursing homes, long-term care institutions, welfare homes, etc.," said Professor Jiang Yawen.

2. Maintain good living habits

You should also adhere to hygiene habits for respiratory infectious diseases, and take good personal protection in daily life, including washing hands frequently, wearing masks, ventilating frequently, and gathering less.

3. Seek medical treatment in time if symptoms occur

Once influenza-like symptoms such as fever, dry cough, fatigue, etc., seek medical treatment in time. Patients who are diagnosed with influenza or have severe flu-like cases can also use anti-influenza virus drugs under the guidance of a doctor.

Influenza Innovative Drugs bring new choices

In addition to bringing health hazards, Professor Jiang Yawen said that the economic burden caused by influenza cannot be ignored. Once it reaches hospitalization, the hospitalization cost is often as high as tens of thousands of yuan.

Some influenza patients choose to use anti-influenza virus drugs to treat the disease. The purpose of patients taking the medicine is to recover as soon as possible and avoid the condition to a more serious state. Usually, there is no consideration to reduce the transmission to other people. In fact, reducing the spread of the virus is equally important for the health of the masses.

Some recent multi-center randomized controlled clinical trials have shown that a novel polymerase inhibitor anti-influenza virus drug can significantly shorten the detoxification time of patients compared with traditional anti-influenza virus drugs. Professor Jiang Yawen said that this objectively reduces the possibility of spreading the virus to other people. Research based on infectious disease transmission dynamics model found that if patients who used traditional anti-influenza virus drugs switched to new polymerase inhibitors, they could significantly reduce the overall infection rate of people in each influenza season. In other words, "there are both fish and bear's paws" and the patient's condition can be treated, which also reduces the risk of the spread of the influenza virus.

"As a new type of anti-influenza virus drug of polymerase inhibitor, mabaloxavir can act in the early stage of viral replication and control disease progression earlier. In addition, it has a significant feature. Taking medicine only once can play a therapeutic role, which greatly improves patient compliance and convenience." Professor Li Yanming said, "From the overall perspective, the effectiveness and safety of this innovative drug have been affirmed, which will bring more choices to the treatment of influenza."

Finally, Professor Li Yanming reminded that influenza is a respiratory infectious disease. Like the new crown, it is generally susceptible to the population. These two respiratory infectious diseases cannot be ignored and should be prevented and treated together.

Reference materials:

① National Health Commission. Influenza Diagnosis and Treatment Plan (2020 Edition). General Practice Clinical and Education.2020;18(12):1059-1063.

②https://www.who.int/zh/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(seasonal)

③http://www.nhc.gov.cn/jkj/s3578/202204/4fd88a291d914abf8f7a91f6333567e1.shtmlhtml

This article comes from [Health Times] and only represents the author's views.The national party media information public platform provides information release and dissemination services.

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