Flu viruses circulate around the world. They hit particularly hard where it is winter season. Like last time in Australia. Now the variant has also arrived in Italy.
There were already reports in August and September: The flu season in Australia was severe this year. To understand: Infections with viruses that are considered seasonal usually occur in the winter months. The vaccines in the northern hemisphere are therefore tailored to the virus strains that are rampant in the southern hemisphere during the winter season.
Australia experienced a particularly severe flu epidemic this year. The reason for this is a specific strain of the virus: H3N2. This subtype of strain A usually leads to more severe illnesses in the season – i.e. to higher disease rates and more deaths.
In the Australian state of Queensland alone, one in four flu tests were positive in August. According to media reports, the virus subtype triggered the second strongest flu season in the last ten years.
Now Italian media are reporting that the “Australian flu” has been detected there. Cases have been recorded in Lombardy, Lazio and Piedmont. In addition to the typical flu symptoms, there are also signs of illness that worry experts. “The first alarm came from Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at the University of Milan,” says Il Messaggero. It is a variant of the flu virus that is known to be particularly immune-evasive, i.e. able to bypass part of the immune system's defenses.
In the same newspaper, Matteo Bassetti, from the Policlinico San Martino hospital in Genoa, warned after the infection of a 76-year-old man with a serious clinical picture and important symptoms: “The neurological picture predominates. This virus affects not only the lungs and the throat, but also the brain .” After the infection, the man was no longer able to recognize his wife.
It was already known that this flu subtype also causes neurological deficits. The good news: The vaccine for the fall/winter season in Germany covers this variant. Vaccination is therefore urgently recommended, especially for high-risk patients. As a rule, the peak of the wave of infections with flu viruses is expected at the beginning of the year.
The Standing Vaccination Commission recommends an annual flu vaccination for chronically ill people, pregnant women from the second trimester onwards, residents of old people's and nursing homes and medical staff. In order to be protected in good time, the RKI recommends getting vaccinated from October to mid-December.
