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Christmas will be here before we know it and the last thing anybody wants is to be sick during the busy festive season. Unfortunately for many of us, this may be unavoidable as flu has now reached epidemic proportions in Spain after shooting up again last week.

 

Flu has actually arrived pretty early this year compared to previous seasons and in the last 7 days alone, health centres have reported a national incidence rate of 112.2 cases of influenza per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure far higher than the 12.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants recorded during the same period last year.

 

These data, from the latest epidemiological bulletin of the Carlos III Health Institute, confirm the early arrival of the flu this autumn. This is an "atypical" pattern, the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC) stated in a press release.

 

It’s become so prevalent, in fact, that the Spanish government is considering bringing mandatory mask-wearing back into hospitals and medical centres.

 

One of the reasons for this resurgence is the appearance of a variant of the H3N2 virus, the K subclade, which is more contagious and has been circulating since April or May in different EU countries.

 

According to José María Molero, spokesperson for the Working Group on Infectious Diseases, this particular strain hasn’t been recorded in Spain yet, but that’s not to say it won’t arrive this winter.

 

If that were to happen, Mr Molero explained that "we would be facing a more transmissible virus," although not necessarily a more serious one.

 

"Even if the virus is not more virulent, it can cause more hospitalisations and complications because it affects people who were protected by the vaccine and are not protected at the same level as in other years when there have been fewer antigenic changes," he said.

 

The trouble is that this season’s flu vaccine was developed before the emergence of subclade K, which could reduce its protective effects. However, the expert still recommends getting the flu jab since it will certainly prevent more serious infections from other viruses and strains.

 

Given the rising number of infections, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has drawn up a list of recommendations to follow in this flu epidemic situation, which includes pushing vaccinations.

 

According to the latest bulletin from the Carlos III Health Institute, the main flu symptoms being recorded this season in Spain are cough, present in 81.6% of those infected, followed by fever (80.3%), general malaise (74.5%) and nasal congestion (72.8%). Other common symptoms include sore throat (60.1%), headache (41%) and muscle pain (40%).

 

 

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