Portugal records influenza epidemic activity with an increasing trend and with a higher-than-expected impact on mortality in elderly people over 85 years of age and women.
According to the Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute (INSA), the gripe is trending increasingin Portugal, and the elderly and women are being the groups most punished.
The INSA bulletin on epidemiological surveillance of respiratory viruses, relating to the period between December 30th and January 5th, indicates that, in recent weeks, “an increasing trend of influenza cases has been observed” in the country, which presents an “increasing activity epidemic flu with an increasing trend”.
In the first week of this year, there was a “mortality above expectations for the age group over 85 years old and female”, said the institute.
This week, the proportion of influenza in intensive care was 5.5%, increasing compared to the previous week (2.9%)the bulletin also advances.
Regarding the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), in the 2024/2025 season, 221 cases of hospitalization of children under 24 months were reported in the sentinel surveillance network, of which 6.3% had to be admitted to care units intensive or requiring ventilation, but there is a stable trend in hospitalization cases.
“In the 2024/2025 season, the laboratories of the Brazilian Network of Laboratories for the Diagnosis of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (hospitals) reported 41,778 cases of respiratory infection and 4,341 cases of influenza were identified,” says the document.
In the week between December 30th and January 5th, 1,048 positive cases for the flu virus were identified within this network.
INSA also informs that, this week, eight cases of flu were reported by the 16 intensive care units that sent information and that, of this total, four had chronic illness and seven had recommendations for vaccination against seasonal flu, but only one was vaccinated. .
The emergence of respiratory infections in the winter season, such as the flu, leads to an increase in pressure on healthcare primary and hospital hospitals, which has forced some hospitals to activate their contingency plans to meet the growing demand.
As a preventive measure, authorities have insisted on vaccination seasonal, which began on September 20th and has already made it possible to vaccinate more than 2.3 million people against the flu and around 1.5 million with a booster dose against Covid-19.
