Robert Koch Institute
24 million respiratory diseases among 12 million children
A small child with a respiratory infection in an intensive care unit of a children’s hospital. photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
These figures should not surprise many parents in Germany. The Robert Koch Institute sees a possible reason that RS viruses and flu viruses did not occur to the usual extent in the corona pandemic.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), from October to the end of December there were 24 million respiratory infections among 12 million children.
In addition to Sars-CoV-2, RS viruses and flu viruses had primarily spread, the RKI announced on the numbers. “The waves of infection caused by the two pathogens were simultaneous, unusually early and unusually strong.” A possible reason is that these pathogens did not occur to the usual extent in the first two and a half years of the pandemic.
For the 72 million adults, the RKI speaks of around 67 million respiratory diseases in the period. The numbers were calculated from information provided by citizens on an RKI portal, which the RKI uses to monitor the occurrence of acute respiratory diseases.