Health
RKI: Flu cases are increasing – all age groups affected
Winter is cold season: the flu epidemic continues to grow and now affects all age groups. photo
© Susann Prautsch/dpa
Winter weather and a lot of time indoors: Respiratory pathogens have an easy time of it. While the Corona situation is subsiding, another virus is now on the rise.
The flu wave in Germany continues to grow and now affects all age groups. This is what the Robert Koch Institute reports (RKI) in its weekly report on acute respiratory diseases. The previous report stated that schoolchildren and young adults in particular have been affected by the virus so far.
In total, more than 30,000 laboratory-confirmed flu cases have been reported to the RKI in Germany since the start of the season. Values are currently continuing to rise from week to week, as the new report shows. However, you have to keep in mind that when it comes to flu, there are likely to be a high number of unrecorded cases. A fairly high proportion of the reported patients were in hospital.
The flu wave is also becoming more noticeable there: among all the people who were hospitalized last week because of a serious respiratory illness, the proportion of influenza diagnoses was significantly higher than in previous weeks, the report says.
In addition, the RKI continues to see high activity of the respiratory pathogen RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). Corona, on the other hand, has been declining continuously since mid-December, which is also shown in wastewater studies. Overall, the estimated number of acute respiratory diseases remained stable at around 4.5 million in Germany compared to the previous week. This information is independent of a visit to the doctor.