After the series of weekends - queues of people waiting in front of doctors' offices and a forecast for an increase in flu patients. In December, the number of infected people also rose, but more slowly than in 2024. So now the peak is expected towards the end of January.
The National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases is proving cases of flu and ARI, with samples coming here mostly from children under 5 years of age who were hospitalized for these diseases in the winter. The trend here shows that compared to last year, the cases are significantly fewer and are delayed by about a month. They are also about twice as many as those at the end of November. A decrease in morbidity is also noted in the last week, which, however, is explainable - due to most holidays. We have to wait until the first week of 2025 to see where the incidence is heading.
Marian and his 4-year-old daughter Magdalena on their way to the pediatric office. He says they are having a routine check-up. Magdalena turns out to be among the healthy children. But on the first working day of the New Year, the sick among the youngest patients of pediatrician and general practitioner Dr. Miroslav Spasov predominate. He says that since the morning there have been about 10 newly diagnosed patients with influenza A.
The specialists are unanimous - since the beginning of December, influenza A has been circulating more actively in our country.
“The incidence we have is lower compared to the same period last year. It is still far from epidemic levels, but the expectations are that the peak will probably be at the end of January”, points out the director of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases
Prof. Iva Hristova.
“This fog helps both the flu and all respiratory infections. It overloads the epithelium of all respiratory tracts and thus it is unable to protect us from some viruses”, explained epidemiologist Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev.
Although the increase in flu incidence is slowly increasing, in the last week of the year the curve breaks and sharply falls by half, or at least that is what the statistics report.
”These are not objective data, since the week had very few working days”, adds Prof. Hristova.
Dr. Slavov pointed out that he still encounters refusal to order tests. “This test is important for us to have a correct diagnosis and, accordingly, to prescribe the correct treatment. No one will become poorer if they give 10 leva for a test, instead of giving 200 leva for treatment,” he added.