Influenza cases fall in Italy, but pneumonia alert still high

The most recent RespiVirNet report, edited by the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), has highlighted a decline in the number of influenza cases in Italy. In the fourth week of 2025, 17.6 cases of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) were recorded per thousand patients; in the fifth week, this figure decreased to 16.9 cases, and the decline persisted in the sixth week with 14.8 cases. The estimated cases of influenza-like syndrome amount to approximately 872,000 cases, with a total of approximately 10,742,000 cases recorded since the inception of surveillance. The regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia, and Sardinia have been particularly impacted, while Basilicata and Calabria have not yet activated their epidemiological surveillance systems. The incidence of cases is decreasing in all age groups, although more so in children under five years of age, where it is equal to 37.3 cases per thousand assisted compared to 42.8 cases in the previous week. The alert for cases of pneumonia remains high, particularly in the city of Milan and Lombardy. Media reports have indicated that the observed cases are either respiratory infections caused by the influenza virus or, with a higher prevalence, bacterial infections superimposed on other pathogens such as metapneumoviruses or the currently circulating variants of COVID-19.