Soaring cases of influenza in the first week of the new year: in the family doctors' studies, in fact, there has been an increase of at least 20% of patients affected by influenza viruses compared to the previous weeks. To detect it is the secretary of the Italian Federation of General Practitioners (Fimmg), Silvestro Scotti.
"We are entering the peak phase of seasonal flu and between New Year and Epiphany we have recorded an increase in cases. Since the beginning of January - says Scotti - we have had at least 20% more people affected, and this has generally found throughout the country ". During the Christmas holidays, therefore, with the schools closed, "there has essentially been an intra-family contamination but now, with the reopening of schools, there will be a further increase in cases of influenza".
The surge at the beginning of the year also led to an increase in complications related to the flu: "We have seen above all an increase in complications of the respiratory and bronchial type - continues Scotti - with some more serious cases of pneumonia, especially in the most fragile subjects such as Senior citizens".
From the president of the family doctors, therefore, the invitation to vaccinate addressed first of all to subjects belonging to the categories at risk and who had not yet done so: "It is important that the subjects most at risk, such as the elderly or chronically ill, get vaccinated and to do it there is still time until the end of January. The flu will in fact last for a few months and, therefore - he concludes - there is still time to immunize and not run into complications ".