Millions of acute respiratory diseases
Many people in Germany are still plagued by colds and respiratory illnesses. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is reporting high numbers of such infections, as it has done recently.
For example, the experts estimate that there were around 6.8 million acute respiratory illnesses in the population in the previous week, regardless of whether the patient had seen a doctor or not. In its report from Wednesday evening, the RKI also recorded an increasing number of corona cases and saw signs of an increasing spread of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).
According to the RKI report, the number of laboratory-confirmed and reported corona infections last week was around 21,800 (previous week: 18,900) and more than 95,500 in total since the beginning of October. However, this is only a small part of what is actually happening. In clinics, however, this has so far been reflected to a lesser extent than during the pandemic. Compared to the same period last year, the number of severe respiratory diseases caused by Sars-CoV-2 "remains proportionally lower", it said.
The RKI reports on RSV from the random monitoring of severe acute respiratory infections at hospitals: A significant increase in RSV diagnoses in infants in the past two weeks could also be due to increased testing following the introduction of a nationwide RSV reporting requirement. The rate of RSV-positive samples in virological monitoring is still low.
According to the RKI, RSV is one of the most important pathogens causing respiratory infections in infants, especially premature babies and young children. After the peak phase of the corona pandemic, there were strong catch-up effects with many young people affected. Experts expect the situation to return to normal this autumn and winter.
Despite the high numbers of acute respiratory diseases, the impact of Covid-19 on hospitalizations has been relatively lower compared to the previous year, as reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Furthermore, the rise in corona cases and the increasing spread of RSV are concerning developments in the realm of health and science.
Source: www.dpa.com
