Interviewed expert: Li Tongzeng, chief physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital Medical University
Global Times health client reporter Bian Lei
Recently, some schools in many places across the country have closed classes due to some students experiencing fever and other symptoms, and the fever is due to infection with influenza A virus. At the same time, many netizens said on social platforms that there were colleagues around them who "had fever one by one", but the new crown antigen test was negative, and it was suspected that they might be infected with the influenza A virus. There are a lot of flowers every year, why is it so prominent this year? How is it different from a cold?
Schools in many places have issued notices of class suspension
Since February, many primary and secondary schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Ningbo have closed classes due to infectious diseases. On the 19th, a class of an experimental primary school in Hangzhou Bay New District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province took leave due to cough, sore throat, fever and other symptoms of more than a dozen children, and the class was suspended for four days; On the 20th, a primary school in Beijing's Xicheng District was exposed that there were many students in a class with fever, and it was switched from offline to home online teaching for 4 days, and the cause of the student's fever was flu A; On the same day, the primary and secondary departments of a school in Beichen District, Tianjin, were rumored to have suspended offline teaching in some classes due to students' fever, and the school later confirmed that the fever was also caused by influenza A; On the 21st, a class in a primary school in Qingpu District, Shanghai was suspended for four days due to 4 confirmed cases of influenza, and switched to online teaching...
This series of news has aroused widespread concern among parents and society. Previously, Wei Sheng, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and Emergency Management of Southern University of Science and Technology, said in an interview with the media that the suspension of classes caused by infectious diseases such as measles, chickenpox, influenza, hand, foot and mouth disease is a very common way to respond to the epidemic, and when a certain number of cases appear in the school, in order to avoid the further spread of the epidemic on campus, the school will take a small range of class closures to respond, and the public does not have to panic too much because of the word "suspension of classes".
Flu A is particularly severe this year?
The Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a document on the 22nd that the current epidemic situation of respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases in Beijing is generally stable, and the intensity of seasonal influenza epidemic activity is showing an upward trend. Among the influenza viruses currently circulating in Beijing, influenza A virus is absolutely dominant. In addition, the centers for disease control and prevention in Langfang City, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, Tongliao Province and other places in Inner Mongolia have issued reminders of the increased activity level of influenza A virus. However, a doctor in the emergency department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital told the "Global Times Health Client" reporter that from the perspective of clinical daily life in the emergency department of the hospital, "no high incidence of influenza A has been found" at present.
Li Tong, chief physician of the comprehensive department of infection at Beijing You'an Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, once told reporters that influenza A tends to show the characteristics of fluctuating epidemic levels in different years, and the severity is different. Every winter and spring are the high flu season, and schools and childcare facilities are crowded places, which increases the risk of concentrated fever. In addition, office workers, public transportation service personnel, public place service personnel, medical personnel, etc., have more daily contact with surrounding people, and the risk of infection is also higher.
"Influenza A is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the influenza A virus, with typical symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, and systemic symptoms in infected people." Li Tong once said that the difference between it and the common cold is that after people are infected with influenza A, the systemic symptoms are more serious, and there will be fatigue, muscle aches, joint pain, headache, and high fever symptoms are also heavier. People with underlying diseases and elderly people infected with influenza A should seek medical treatment in time if they feel that their underlying diseases are serious, the symptoms of high fever have not eased for more than 5 days, or symptoms such as shortness of breath and wheezing occur during the course of the disease.
Li Tong once said that in recent years, affected by the new crown epidemic, on the one hand, people's influenza vaccination rate has decreased; On the other hand, the infection rate of influenza has become lower, causing people's immunity to influenza to decrease, making it possible for influenza to spread faster and infection rates higher this year. However, he said that the trend of influenza A generally weakens in March and April. In the northern regions, there is usually only one epidemic season, from December of the previous year to March of the following year; But in the south, in addition to the winter-spring epidemic season, there may be a small epidemic in summer.
Li Tong once reminded that the prevention of influenza A should pay attention to: do a good job of personal protection, wear masks in public places, try to maintain a safe social distance from others, and pay attention to hand hygiene and cough etiquette daily; Maintain environmental hygiene, open more windows indoors for ventilation, and regularly clean and disinfect key parts such as door handles and stair handrails; Strengthen the health monitoring of collective units, if someone has respiratory or intestinal symptoms, they should be observed and treated at home in time, and if a cluster epidemic occurs, they should cooperate with various prevention and control measures. ▲
Responsible editor: Zheng Ronghua
Editor-in-chief: Ding Wenjun