Slight rise in influenza cases in Italy

The RespiVirNet Bulletin from the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) indicates a slight increase in influenza cases in Italy during the 49th week of the year, from 2 to 8 December. The incidence of flu-like syndromes was 8.6 cases per thousand people attended, representing a modest rise from the previous week’s 8.4 cases. The group most affected is that of children under five years of age, with an incidence of 21.2 cases per thousand attended (18.9 in the previous week), according to the ISS. A total of 1,698 clinical samples were received by the various laboratories belonging to the RespiVirNet network, of which 57 (3.3%) tested positive for the influenza virus. Of these, 45 were of the type A virus, comprising 25 of subtype H1N1pdm09, four of subtype H3N2, and 16 of an unidentified subtype. Additionally, 12 samples were of the type B virus. The ISS Bulletin reports 510,000 cases in the seven days under review, with the number of infections since the beginning of the season exceeding 3.3 million.