Recently, schools in many parts of the country have been closed due to some students showing symptoms such as fever. The reason for the fever is influenza A virus infection. At the same time, many netizens said on social platforms that colleagues around them “fevered one by one”, but the new crown antigen test was negative, and they suspected that they might be infected with influenza A virus. Beetle flu occurs every year, why is it so prominent this year? What is the difference between it and a cold?
Schools in many places issue suspension notices
Since February, many primary and secondary schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Ningbo, Zhejiang and other places have suspended classes due to infectious diseases. On the 19th, a class of an experimental primary school in Hangzhou Bay New District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province asked for leave due to symptoms such as cough, sore throat, and fever of more than a dozen children, and the class was suspended for four days; Many, from offline to online teaching at home for 4 days, the reason for students’ fever was influenza A; on the same day, it was reported that some classes in the elementary school and middle school of a school in Beichen District, Tianjin suspended offline teaching due to students’ fever. The school 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 online teaching was changed…
This series of news has aroused widespread concern from parents and the society. Previously, Wei Sheng, a 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 suspension of classes due to infectious diseases such as measles, chickenpox, influenza, and hand, foot, and mouth disease is a very common way to respond to epidemics. After a certain number of cases appear in the school, in order to avoid the further spread of the epidemic in the campus, the school will adopt a small-scale suspension of classes to deal with it.
A flow is particularly serious this year?
The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a document on the 22nd stating that the current epidemic situation of respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases in Beijing is generally stable, and the intensity of seasonal influenza epidemics is showing an upward trend. Among the influenza viruses currently prevalent in Beijing, influenza A viruses are overwhelmingly dominant. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Langfang City, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, and Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, all issued reminders of the increased activity of influenza A virus. However, a doctor from the emergency department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital told the “Global Times Health Client” reporter that from the clinical perspective of the hospital’s emergency department, “no high incidence of influenza A has been found so far.”
Li Tong, Chief Physician of Infection General Department of Beijing You’an Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, once told reporters that influenza A often presents the characteristics of fluctuating epidemic levels in different years, and the severity varies. Every winter and spring is the season of high incidence of influenza, and schools and kindergartens are places where people gather, so the risk of concentrated fever increases. In addition, office workers, public transportation service personnel, public service personnel, medical personnel, etc. have more daily contact with people around them, and the risk of infection is also higher.
“Influenza A is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by influenza A virus. The typical symptoms are fever, cough, and sore throat. The infected person will have systemic symptoms.” Li Tong once said that the difference between it and the common cold is that people After being infected with influenza A, the systemic symptoms are severe, such as fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, headache, and high fever. People with basic diseases and elderly people who are infected with influenza A should seek medical treatment in time if they feel that their basic diseases are serious, if the symptoms of high fever have not been relieved for more than 5 days, or if symptoms such as shortness of breath and wheezing appear during the course of the disease.
Li Tong once said that in recent years, due to the impact of 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 decreased, resulting in a decline in people’s immunity to influenza, which has made influenza spread this year. Possibly faster and with a higher infection rate. However, he said that the epidemic trend of influenza A generally weakens in March and April . In the northern region, there is usually only one popular season, from December of the previous year to March of the next year; but in the southern region, in addition to the winter and spring seasons, there may be a small epidemic in summer.
Li Tong once reminded that precautions should be taken to prevent influenza A: take good personal protection, wear a mask in public, try to maintain a safe social distance with others, pay attention to hand hygiene and cough etiquette daily; maintain environmental hygiene, open windows for ventilation indoors, Regular cleaning and disinfection of key parts such as doorknobs and stair handrails; strengthen health monitoring in collective units. If someone develops respiratory or intestinal symptoms, they should be observed and treated at home in a timely manner. In case of clustered epidemics, they should cooperate with various prevention and control measures.
