Influenza, the first serious case of 2019 in Udine

The first Italian case of grave influence of the season dates back to September 27 and was recorded at the "Santa Maria della Misericordia" Hospital in Udine.

Healthy person

To draw the attention of infectious diseases, together with the earliness, also the characteristics of the patient in question: a person of 50 years perfectly healthy and without any kind of comorbidity, which is therefore not included among the categories considered at risk. Due to bacterial and fungal complications, the patient, who is on the mend today, was intubated and had to face a hospitalization that lasted for over 20 days.

Bassetti

«If these are the signals, with a first diagnosis already at the end of September, and if the scenario that has affected Australia and other parts of the world is repeated, we will face a particularly aggressive flu season, with the circulation of influenza viruses very much different, H3N2, as in the case in question, H1N1, virus B – declares Matteo Bassetti, Clinical director of infectious diseases of the integrated university health authority of Udine and president of the Italian Society of anti-infective therapy -. This case suggests that the flu form, even if it does not have extraordinary numbers like those of winter 2017-18, it can also affect healthy people and reinforces the message that influenza vaccination must be universal because there is no category of subjects spared from the potential complications of influenza ".

Prevention

The SITA, as already reiterated during the recent national congress that took place in Naples, therefore underlines the importance of involve the entire population in the vaccination campaign: not only the risk categories – people over 65, children under two, people who are immunosuppressed – but also people who do not fit into these groups. On average, less than one in four Italians protect themselves with flu vaccination coverage. The flu vaccination, offered free of charge to the risk groups, with a cost of only 15 euros for all other citizens, in addition to protecting from the complications of influenza, entails a saving for the Health Service in terms of hospitalizations and reduces the use of antibiotics .