The patient sat in his waiting room with her feverish son for two hours. At some point she became impatient, says Dominik Ewald, state chairman of the Association of Pediatricians and Adolescents in Bavaria. She had come from Bad Abbach, south of Regensburg, to his practice in Regenstauf, which is north of Regensburg. She had previously called four practices at her location to no avail. All full. It’s no different with Ewald: “We’ve had the practice jam-packed with patients for weeks,” he reports. And it confirms what many parents already feel: the children are all sick again and many adults are also affected. All around there is sniffling, coughing and fever. Corona, flu or HS virus? What’s actually going on?
A call to the data collectors at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin brings clarity: some of the doctor’s practices report the results of their throat swabs to the institute. That’s why we know pretty exactly which viruses are on the move. The speaker there initially reassures: It is true that the number of respiratory diseases has recently increased again. But that’s exactly what she expected. Viruses like the cold season. When people spend a lot of time indoors and are reluctant to ventilate because of the cold, they can spread more easily. The cold air also benefits them: it dries out the mucous membranes and therefore makes them more vulnerable, and anyway people are often weaker at the end of winter. Over Christmas, when schools are closed and no one commutes to work in overcrowded S-Bahn trains, fewer people become infected. Then more again in January.
At the moment, influenza, the classic flu, is particularly striking. But the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is also still active; it leads to a respiratory disease that can be severe, especially in small children. Corona, on the other hand, has already declined significantly since Christmas. So far, so usual.
What is striking, however, is how the flu is affecting even the youngest children this winter. Influenza viruses were frequently detected in all age groups, the RKI reported in its weekly report on Wednesday evening, “but children aged two to 14, as well as 35 to 59 year olds, were most affected.” The number of children with severe acute respiratory infections is now “at a very high level”. The number of doctor’s visits to pediatricians’ practices also increased significantly.
After looking at the southern hemisphere, experts feared that the flu could also make children increasingly ill this year, as many children there had also recently fallen ill with the flu. In countries such as Australia, South Africa and South America, the flu peaks between July and September. A few months later, the same pathogens plagued people in the north.
An unusually large number of children under the age of 16 were affected in the last flu winter. This could happen again this year. The reason for this is probably that a different subtype has been dominating the flu wave for some time. According to the RKI, mainly influenza A(H1N1) is on the move, which can also be difficult for younger adults and children.
“The children are much more seriously ill than we were used to,” confirms Bavaria’s association head Ewald. He also sees mixed infections: small patients who have Corona together with the normal flu or Corona together with RSV.
“At home, normal hand washing is enough”
In their distress, more and more parents are using disinfectant spray like magic wands to banish the power of germs. But that’s actually not necessary, says Ewald. Cleaning the changing table or toilet when a child is sick is okay. The viruses currently circulating tend to be transmitted via stool. In principle, however, the following applies: “Normal hand washing is sufficient at home.” In practice, he also protects himself from the little snotty noses with a face mask. Otherwise, what everyone learned from Corona helps: keep a little distance from the sick person, don’t give kisses, cough into the crook of your arm – and vaccinate.
Even at the beginning of February it is not too late for a flu vaccination, says the head of the Bavarian General Practitioners Association Wolfgang Ritter. Many people with respiratory diseases are also currently coming to the family doctor. He especially advises unvaccinated people with an increased risk of a severe course of the disease to do so: “The influenza numbers will continue to rise.” However, pediatrician Ewald sees a practical problem here: “We no longer have any vaccine doses.”