Influenza and respiratory infections rise gradually in Latvia

Influenza and other acute respiratory infections are gradually increasing in Latvia, monitoring data from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control show, LSM reports.

At 46 family doctors’ practices taking part in the influenza monitoring programme, patients with acute respiratory infections made up 21% of all patients attending outpatient facilities.

Last week, influenza was diagnosed clinically in six patients, equivalent to 7.9 cases per 100,000 people. That compares with 6.4 cases per 100,000 the previous week and 3.9 at the start of the season.

A total of 997 people sought care for symptoms of other acute respiratory infections, an average of 1,308.2 cases per 100,000 people. The rate was 13% higher than the previous week, when it stood at 1,157.4 per 100,000.

Twenty patients sought outpatient care for pneumonia, equivalent to 26.2 cases per 100,000 people. That was twice the previous week’s rate of 13 per 100,000, but 1.8 times lower than the rate during the same period last season, when it was 46.1.

At 10 hospitals in Riga and other parts of Latvia included in the monitoring programme, severe acute respiratory infections accounted for 3.2% of hospital admissions in week 42, up from 2.9% the previous week. About half of hospitalised patients with these infections, 51.8%, were aged 65 or older.

Among patients tested for severe acute respiratory infections, influenza was confirmed in 0.4% of cases and respiratory syncytial virus in 2%. The National Microbiology Reference Laboratory at Riga East Clinical University Hospital tested 250 samples for influenza and RSV during week 42. It confirmed 11 cases of influenza A, or 4.4% of samples, and one case of RSV.

The proportion of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 tests fell to 2.5% in week 42, from 4.4% the previous week. One death was reported in a patient with Covid-19. Covid-19 cases had been increasing at the same point in the previous season.

Tags: Latvia, influenza, public health