With the start of the corona pandemic, the flu sufferers disappeared from the waiting rooms.
There is a simple reason for this, as doctors say.
From October to April there are usually more infections with influenza viruses, which can cause severe flu. But last year everything was different - also with regard to the flu numbers. The flu epidemic in 2020/21 practically failed, as figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) show.
The authorities counted just 519 cases (as of April 22, 2021)
, as the Tagesschau informed. Fewer than since the flu surveillance began in 1992. The Influenza Working Group (AGI) at the RKI has reported a total of 13 laboratory-confirmed deaths in connection with the flu for the current 2020/21 season. For comparison: in 2017/2018 around 25,100 people in Germany died from virus flu.
"There has been no flu epidemic at all this season," the Tagesschau quotes an RKI spokeswoman.
Most of the other countries in the northern hemisphere were also spared from the wave.
But not only the flu cases have fallen sharply since the beginning of the corona pandemic,
other diseases have also been on the
decline
since then.
The corona distance rules also keep other colds and norovirus infections in check, as the ZDF informs.
Pharmacies would also hardly sell any remedies against lice.
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Flu can be accompanied by a fever.
Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, however, influenza infections have been far less common.
© K. Schmitt / www.imago-images.de
Ventilation, hand hygiene, mask: Corona measures reduce flu cases
It is not only distance rules that help curb virus transmissions such as the influenza viruses that cause influenza. Other measures that have been in effect since Corona have also meant that the flu has barely gained a foothold for a year.
Exit restrictions during hard lockdowns have minimized contact with others and thus the risk of infection
. The other two AHA rules, hygiene rules and everyday masks also mean that viruses can circulate less quickly.
The recommendations for
ventilating rooms, home office regulations and temporary school closings also
have a positive influence, as the RKI confirmed according to the Spiegel: Since the measures "were used more or less in all countries worldwide against the corona pandemic" according to the RKI, flu viruses worldwide and Even in the summer of 2020 it was hardly measurable in the southern hemisphere.
(jg)
Influenza vaccination survey
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List of rubric lists: © Fotostand / K. Schmitt via www.imago-images.de