The influenza epidemic in the Czech Republic is still ongoing, and the morbidity rate increased by 10.5 percent in the first week of January. For every 100,000 people, doctors recorded 1956 patients suffering from acute respiratory diseases. The overall morbidity rate for influenza decreased slightly (by 3.5 percent). This is according to data from the State Institute of Health (SZÚ).
“In the adult population, we are still registering an increase, especially in people over 65. There, the morbidity rate has increased by more than a quarter (26.6 percent), and in the 25-64 age group, the increase is almost 20 percent (18.2 percent),” the SZÚ said.
“The morbidity data are still influenced by the holidays so that the actual morbidity may be even higher; we have to take into account people who did not seek medical attention at the end of the holiday period and thus did not make it into the statistics,” reminded Jan Kynčl, head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the National Health Institute.
According to him, the highest morbidity rates were reported from Vysočina, South Moravia, Moravia-Silesia, Pardubice, Olomouc, South Bohemia, and Zlín regions.
Doctors recorded 136 cases of influenza with a severe course, of which 35 ended in the patient’s death.
Influenza circulates in the Czech Republic, mainly in type A, also targeted by vaccines.