Utrecht (ANP) – The influenza epidemic in the Netherlands appears to be abating a week after it was announced. GPs saw significantly fewer patients with flu symptoms last week than the week before. However, influenza virus is often found in pooled samples. That is why experts from the Neville Health Institute, among others, are speaking out From the influenza epidemic.
The flu wave has been mild so far this year. In the fourth week of the year, which is the subject of the new figures, only 51 people per 100,000 inhabitants went to the doctor due to flu-like complaints. A week earlier, 70 out of every 100,000 people did so.
The 'threshold value' set for calling it an influenza pandemic is 56 GP visits per 100,000 population. But there are also other criteria, such as the number of samples from patients in whom the influenza virus was detected in the laboratory.
The Netherlands has not experienced a serious influenza epidemic since 2018. Last winter, there was a fairly moderate influenza epidemic, which lasted for fourteen weeks and was described as “moderately severe” for part of that time. For the past two winters, the Netherlands has been suffering from the Corona pandemic, but the chances of contracting influenza viruses were minimal due to all the precautions.
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