Cape Town - Health authorities have warned that the next few weeks could see July’s peak in in flu infections continuing, before the season starts winding down again in September.
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed that its Influenza-like Illness Surveillance programme has so far had almost 1 200 specimens from across the country tested.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation has cautioned parents to be vigilant during this season for any sore throats in children, which in some cases might lead to rheumatic heart disease which kills many children across the world.
The NICD’s weekly influenza surveillance report shows that apart from the H3N2 strain, a few cases of the once-endemic H1N1 (also known as swine flu) had also been identified, as well as influenza B and A.
While the H3N2 virus had for a long time been limited to pigs, in 2011 the first few human cases were identified in the US. Influenza A viruses infect humans, swine and wild birds, while Influenza B has been circulating among humans for a long time.
Dr Cheryl Cohen, head of the epidemiology centre for respiratory disease and meningitis within the NICD, said while this year’s flu season had a late start with the first flu cases emerging late in May and at the beginning of June, July had seen a peak in flu cases so far.
“We think this peak will carry on for the next two or three weeks before the flu season starts winding down again in September.”
While Cohen couldn’t give figures on how many South Africans had died due to flu so far this year, she estimated that a few thousand had probably died from complications. Every year between 4 000 and 9 000 people die due to flu-related illnesses.
Out of 668 cases from the NICD’s Viral Watch programme, H1N1 was identified in 33 cases compared to the 286 of A (H3N2) flu strain. Only 19 cases were identified as Influenza B and an untyped strain of Influenza A was identified in one patient.
Gauteng had 160 cases of H3N2 followed by the Western Cape at 53, and Northern Cape at 22 cases.
Dr John Sonnenberg who has a practice in Sea Point said: “Apart from the common colds and sore throats which we see every winter, there was definitely less flu this year than usual.”
Another Cape Town GP Dr Solly Lison said while there were not so many flu cases, he had “seen quite a number of Haemophilus influenzae, which can cause infection and has been complicating the flu virus”.
Dr Vash Mungal-Singh, chief executive of the Heart and Stroke Foundation said despite the dangers of rheumatic fever, which presented itself as a sore throat and later resulted in heart disease, it was not prioritised in South Africa.
“Rheumatic heart disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults in South Africa and there is a need to prioritise prevention of the disease and the control of rheumatic fever,” she said.
Cape Argus