This year’s flu season does not follow its usual pattern.
This is according to the chief physician Johan Styrud.
– That it continues, and continues, and continues is worrying, he says in “News Morning”.
The flu activity in the country is still at a high level, according to the Public Health Authority. Johan Styrud, chief physician at Danderyds Hospital in Stockholm, says in “News Morning” that this year’s seasonal flu does not follow the pattern that the healthcare is used to.
– We are used to the fact that it goes up pretty fast, then pretty fast down. Now it has been on for eight, twelve weeks, and continued and continued and continued. It’s not the usual way we are used to, he says.
The fact that the spread of infection does not yet seem to decline is worrying, he says, emphasizing that even healthcare personnel are getting sick – something that leads to a more strained situation for the health care.
– That it continues, and continues, and continues is worrying. Plus, a lot of staff has become ill, so it will be an effort week in and week out.
Young seriously ill
Something else that is noticeable is that younger people are seriously affected. DN Has previously reported that every fourth patient who has become so ill in the flu that they need intensive care in the form of so-called ECMO treatment is in their teens.
– There is a small group of young people who get seriously ill, we notice that, says Johan Styrud.
ECMO care becomes relevant when regular intensive care is not enough. Then an advanced heart-lung machine is used to oxygenate the blood outside the body.
The hope: decreases when spring comes
Styrud emphasizes that these are a few people who become so seriously ill that they need ECMO care. The fact that several young people suffer seriously can be a remission of pandemic.
– We must remember that we have had several years that society has been closed, young people have not received the immunity you are used to, he says.
Now he hopes that the spread of infection goes down as spring comes, which usually leads to the flu season decreasing.
– Then we are out more and do not infect each other in the same way, so then we hope that this will die away.