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Marina Nikolova

The flu epidemic that began in the autumn is expected to peak during the next six to eight weeks. Until now the victims of the flu are 34 people at the average age of 57 years and in 62% of the cases the people had chronic diseases. Currently, 75 people are in hospital emergencies but 143 people were hospitalized as emergency cases since the beginning of autumn, revealed a conference on the flu attended by the Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos.

The flu is developing very quickly which could lead to irreversible processes in the body. So, the best option is to seek medical advice immediately and take appropriate medications. H1N1 symptoms have not changed from the last year. They are high temperature that does not fall for several days, sore throat, headache and fatigue, and more rarely diarrhoea.

Flu treatment medications could be taken from pharmacies that are on duty during the strikes these days, from hospitals and health centres for free. Usually, the flu lasts between 1 and 17 days depending on the patient's body. In any case, it is better people to get vaccinated with the ordinary flu vaccine, which in its new version contains the H1N1 strain and it is not too late yet.  

Last year 380,000 vaccines were used which means that 7.4% of the population got vaccinated, while 10.5% of the people got seasonal vaccines, said the lecturer in public health Jenny Kurea-Kremastinou. 77.6% of the respondents in the phone survey had never got vaccinated and 76.2 percent said they would not get vaccinated against the new flu, said Kremastinou. According to the same study on health matters, people relied mostly on family doctors and trust the media the least (20.4%). According to the findings, the people were not indifferent to the vaccine but there was no good communication strategy on public health matters.

Professor Christos Hadzihristodoulou presented evidence from the largest organization for disease control and prevention’s studies related to the flu in America. 50% of hospitalized children were not suffering from any chronic or other diseases, only a small percentage had asthma, said Hadzihristodoulou. The flu was in its peak in Greece and Italy compared with other European countries, while in Western European countries the epidemic was over. On  January 25 this year 1.4 of 100 000 people in England had to be hospitalized in an emergency because of flu, which was difficult for its health system. The same had happened suddenly in France too as reported by CDC. Professor Hadzihristodoulou completed that this could be explained with the lack of good communication strategy on the disease this year and the people did not take seriously the threat of influenza.
 
Professor Stephanos Bonovas said that 1700 samples from patients with influenza were taken since the beginning of the epidemic and 50% were positive. He submitted statistical data for the people who were hospitalized as emergency cases and who died of flu and it became clear that almost no one had been vaccinated. 60% of the 131 people treated in emergencies were men of average age 54 years and 75% were between 30 and 65 years old. Only 3.2% of these 131 people were vaccinated although 58% had been advised to get vaccinated. Prof. Bonovas said that 70% of the 27 people who had passed away were men between 14 and 77 years old and nobody had been vaccinated, and 67% had either health problems, or were over 60 years old and they should got vaccinated. However, the number of passed away had not exceeded the expectations, concluded Mr Bonovas and said that the flu appeared to be seasonal not pandemic.

The virus was so strong that it could cause pneumonia alone, said Professor Tsiodras. Its treatment could last 1 to 17 days and the infection could be spread even one day before the symptoms begin and in the last day prior to complete recovery. If children continued to cough they could spread the virus even longer. The press conference made it clear that the sooner you start to take antivirals, the better it is. Although 30% of people who got the flu had no fever, there were serious cases of very rapid development of symptoms which could lead to serious respiratory problems and pneumonia.

On the other hand, Greek hospitals lack beds in emergencies and doctors are worried about a possible epidemic. The director of Shishmanoglio Hospital said that the breathing apparatus available to the emergency were very old and that beds were needed. His proposal to the health authorities was to enter into provisional contracts with military hospitals that availed beds and equipment.

For his part, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos thanked the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the doctors and the lecturers. He said that whatever happened in the country, whatever the difficulties and collisions in their attempt to make things better and with regard to health care - to regulate the procedure for access to health services, they cared every day for the protection of public health.