Winter 2025: Influenza K continues to spread, patients wait many hours for a doctor

According to the data of the Ministry of Health, last week there was a certain halt in the number of referrals due to a flu-like illness. The ministry estimates that the decrease is related to a temporary lull around the Hanukkah holiday and many trips by Israelis to Christmas celebrations around the world. However, experts warn that this is only a brief respite, and not a change in trend. Similar to what has been observed in many countries in the world, it is estimated that the morbidity is expected to rise again in the coming weeks.

The fear in the health system is that the combination between the spread of the flu, low vaccination rates and continuous overloads in the emergency rooms will lead to a further worsening of the situation, especially among the elderly and chronically ill populations.

According to her, “The heavy workloads are known every winter, but this year the feeling is of a prolonged and deeper burden. The flu has a wave that also leads to an increase in hospitalizations of patients with underlying diseases. In my estimation, we have not yet reached the peak, and the workloads in the emergency rooms and internal departments are becoming expensive, both for patients who wait long hours and for the medical teams. This is an unpleasant situation, and it requires continuous preparation of the system. We continue to call on people to go to and get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Behind the alarming picture of the spread of the flu, and with it the heavy workloads in the clinics and hospitals, and the high mortality, there is a relatively new player in the flu scene, the K substrain of the H3N2 influenza A virus, which has already been identified by health authorities worldwide as a major cause of the outbreak. Researchers estimate that the mutations in strain K improve the ability of the virus to adhere to human cells, thus increasing the chances of infection. In addition, it is possible that the changes allow him to partially evade antibodies created by previous vaccinations or infections in past seasons. The current season’s vaccine was developed months before the K strain was identified, and is therefore not perfectly compatible with it. Despite this, experts emphasize that it still provides significant protection against serious illness and death, even if it does not completely prevent infection.