Flu and covid rates drop across the Valencian Community

Flu cases have fallen by 70% and covid infections have dropped by 45% over the past week across the Valencian Community, while no cases of respiratory syncytial virus, which is responsible for bronchiolitis, have been recorded.

This information comes from the latest bulletin issued by the Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System of the Valencian Community, known as SiVIRA, through the Department of Health. The system monitors the progression of respiratory infections, including covid, flu and syncytial virus, during week 43 of the year, spanning from October 19th to October 25th. The syncytial virus can trigger severe lower respiratory tract infections, particularly among older individuals and those with specific medical conditions or immunosuppression.

Specifically, the incidence of flu has dropped to 6.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 22 cases during the previous week. Coronavirus transmission has also decreased to 53.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 97.4 cases in the preceding period, which experienced a notable surge in these infections before declining again amidst the ongoing vaccination campaign.

Meanwhile, no cases of the syncytial virus were detected over the past week, compared to 3.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the previous period.

Despite these drops, the overall incidence of respiratory infections continues to rise, growing by 8.74% over the last week as it moved from 612.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 665.8 cases.

Children under the age of four remain the most heavily affected age group, with their incidence climbing to 2,999.4 cases this week compared to 2,680.2 cases the week before. The next most affected age group consists of children aged 5 to 14, recording over 1,000 cases.

Additionally, the rate among individuals aged 65 and older has also increased to 670.2 cases, up from 627 cases in the previous period. Hospital admission rates for severe respiratory infections rose by 1.3 points to reach 11.6 cases, compared to 10.3 cases the week before.

The Department of Health has recently expanded vaccination against the syncytial virus to cover the adult population.

The Valencian Community had already incorporated vaccination against this virus for people aged 60 and older living in care homes, as well as for specific groups of transplant patients.

Under the updated strategy, the rollout now extends to people aged 18 and older who present very high-risk conditions. These groups include recipients of hematopoietic progenitor cell transplants or CAR-T cell therapy, solid organ transplant recipients or those awaiting a transplant, haematological cancer patients undergoing active treatment or who have received treatment over the past six months, individuals with innate immune errors, patients with advanced HIV infection and CD4 lymphocyte counts below 200/µl, and patients undergoing chronic dialysis, covering both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis.