Influenza is back in Europe as several cases started to increase every day. With Covid-19 still around and affecting human lives, many questions were raised on the effectiveness of flu vaccines.
Europe managed to get rid of the pandemic virus last winter with the help of implementing lockdowns, forcing social distancing and the use of masks and hand sanitiser.
This region has not yet been celebrated properly, and the virus is back, threatening to take more lives than kill about 650,000 a year as per EU reports.
Since December, the flu virus has been spreading all around the European countries at a rapid pace that nobody expected. It is becoming more and more dreadful with each passing day.
The reason is very clear as most countries have decided to ease the restrictions that were placed to avoid the spread of the virus.
During the last week of December, 43 flu virus cases were reported from the European intensive care unit (ICU). It is the maximum number of cases reported last month.
Although, this is clearly below what has been seen during 2018 when European ICU reported 400 cases for a single day.
A “twindemic” could cause intense pressure on already suffering and struggling health system.
Three regions have been under the radar of viruses in France. The Paris region is also a concern as it faces a flu epidemic. As per recent reports, France has recorded 72 cases of flu, with the number of deaths reached to six.
Dominant Strain
The flu that has been rapidly spreading this winter appears to be the H3 of A virus, which usually causes severe cases to society’s elders.
Pattinson said It is too early to call on the flu vaccine because, for a world analysis, there have to be more ill patients to examine and take a final call.
Although, lab tests showed that the vaccine available to be used is not favourable against H3.
It has happened because there was almost no virus spreading at the time of the year when the vaccine’s composition was made.
This only makes the task even tougher for the experts to guess which strain would be presiding in the coming flu season.
The flu vaccines are modified every year to tackle the kind of challenges new viruses bring.
