Covid cases slowing down as flu surging, experts say
A woman blowing her nose.
Travel restrictions, school closures, social distancing and mask wearing have all but stopped the flu from spreading in the country.
But medical doctors are beginning to record an increase in the number of flu cases. The increase in case has been attributed to the sudden change in the weather, with a likely link to the recent reopening of schools after a prolonged closure.
Although people continue to shy away from seeking treatment for fear of being diagnosed with Covid-19, anecdotal evidence is showing a rise in the numbers of common cold, a mild upper respiratory tract infection.
Dr Yubrine Moraa, an internal medicine physician, said there has been an increase in the number of patients. “What we can’t tell is whether it is flu or not,” she said.
“The two diseases share symptoms and the stigma for Covid is so high that when someone presents with a sore throat, fever, and cough, their first option will be to manage it at home instead of going to hospital,” Dr Moraa explained.
594,000 cases
Last year, about 594,000 cases of upper respiratory tract infections were recorded as of mid-December, according to data by Kenyan District Health Information Software (DHIS). Recent observational data shows that the flu is increasing. For instance, since schools reopened, parents in many estates in Nairobi have contracted the flu.
“I got it from him immediately he went back to school,” noted a clinical officer in Embakasi’s Imara Daima estate, pointing to her five-year-old son.
The risk factors for acquiring a common cold include exposure to children in day care, scientists have found. Contrary to popular belief, cold climate does not cause the common cold.
The flu is a contagious illness that affects the nose, throat, lungs and other parts of the body. It can spread quickly from one person to another. While F ebruary is normally a dry month, the Meteorological Department yesterday said the rains being experienced now in the Lake Victoria Basin regions, Western and the Central Highlands, including Nairobi, are due to the shifting of the Congo moisture band into eastern Africa countries.
In Kenya, epidemiologists estimate that about two to 15 million Kenyans across all ages get infected with influenza ( flu) every year. Children get five to seven episodes per year while adults get two to three episodes.
These infections transmitted through respiratory droplets or contact are clinically indistinguishable from other respiratory viral diseases without laboratory confirmation. However, schools have been singled out as a particular “hotspot” for influenza because children can spread the disease a day or two before they show symptoms and can continue to spread the virus for at least a week after symptoms have subsided.
Flu season
Moreover, school-going children under five years have also been identified as key transmitters in communitywide outbreaks. Doctors typically start seeing flu in May or June with the greatest number of infections in July or August. For this reason, when as Covid-19 started spreading earlier last year, public health officials were worried that health care systems would be overwhelmed.
No one can say for sure what is responsible for this unusual flu season, but it seems likely that all the changes in people's movements and behaviours, because of Covid-19, is likely to have played a major role.
