Flu cases continue to spread in Spain and have not yet reached their peak, with the maximum number of cases expected for the 3rd week of January.
This is indicated by the figures of the SiVIRA respiratory infection surveillance formula of the Carlos III Health Institute, which show that cases of flu are circulating lately with “greater intensity than the rest of the respiratory viruses”, adding Covid-19.
Influenza A is the cause of the number of patients who go to the Spanish emergency room, according to Pascual Piñera, vice president of the emergency medicine company SEMES.
Speaking to news agency Efe, Piñera said that there were 35% more patients requesting emergency care right now compared to this time last year. Of these 10% are being admitted to hospitals, which ‘have nowhere to put these patients’, he added.
The symptoms of influenza A and Covid are very similar and are accompanied by fever, muscle aches, cough, tiredness and sore throat. Speaking to the newspaper El Español, Lorenzo Armenteros, from the Spanish general medicine company SEMG, says that tiredness is not unusual with Covid, while muscle aches recommend the flu.
In flu patients, those symptoms last for a week, but some patients experience them for up to 10 days.
Armenteros added that this “massive increase” in cases was to be expected, given the increasing number of social events around Christmas time.
“Lately we are suffering the consequences of social interactions on Christmas Eve, in seven days we will see the effects of New Year’s Eve and in the third week of January we will have the largest epidemic peak, following Three Kings Day. January 6], and the beginning of the school and university year,” he said.
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