The flu season in many countries is abnormal, serious due to the spread of the disease, many strains of the influenza virus circulating, including high poisoning, low vaccination rate.
Some countries in the world are experiencing the influenza season that experts are evaluated as abnormalities, with a high rate of positive and mutated hospitalization. Many medical facilities are overloaded due to serious illness. This is completely different from the flu season in recent years.
For example, in the US, the hospital’s hospitalization rate has surpassed the culmination of the Delta wave in Covid-19 pandemic, with 14.4 people over 100,000 people hospitalized from January 23 to 1/2. In particular, California recorded 10 deaths in children, of which San Diego district alone had 3 cases, rated by experts as “a worrying tragedy”.
Japan recorded a record number of cases in the past 25 years. In just one week, the country discovered 317,000 positive cases at 5,000 health facilities, an average of 64.39 patients per facility, double the warning threshold. The total number of cases infected from the beginning of the epidemic season has exceeded 6 million people.
This situation led to a double crisis when hospitals and pharmacies in Japan fell into lack of treatment. Large pharmaceutical companies such as Sawai Pharmaceutical and Chugai Pharmaceutical are forced to suspend the supply of Tamiflu medicine, making patients unable to treat themselves at home, leading to overloading at medical facilities.
Vietnam also acknowledged the rising season of the weather. The outstanding feature of this epidemic is that there are many cases of diseases showing signs of white lungs on X-rays, especially in elderly patients or people with many background diseases. Notably, some young people also encounter serious flu complications due to subjectivity.
People wear a mask when walking in Fukuoka province, Japan, January 9. Image: VCG
The main cause of this situation is a combination of many factors.
Dr., Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a special care department at Cleveland Clinic, said the influenza season in 2025 in the US and Canada is longer than normal, divided into two peaks. Typically, the virus operates strongly around January and reaches its peak at the end of this month or February.
However, during this epidemic, the cases increased sharply in early December and then decreased slightly, then increased again after the holiday, when children returned to school. According to Dr. Khabbaza, this can cause more and more powerful spread.
“This year’s flu season is strange because of this double epidemic phenomenon,” he said.
Secondly, the simultaneous circulation of many influenza virus strains, including highly toxic strains such as H3N2, has increased the level of spread and danger of the disease. In the United States, two strains of H3N2 and H1N1 influenza coexist with equal levels, which rarely seen in the previous influenza seasons. H3N2, which is known for its ability to cause serious complications, especially dangerous for children and the elderly, caused the number of hospitalized cases to increase sharply.
Next, the low flu vaccine rate is an alarming factor. In the United States, only about 46% of people vaccinated in seasonal flu, this figure decreased over the years after Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, in Canada, the vaccination rate is only 42%, not enough to create community immunity. This makes many people, especially high -risk groups, are vulnerable to serious flu complications. Experts say that most of the serious cases occur in people who do not inject vaccines.
In addition, community immunodeficiency after a long time of blockade and social expression in Covid-19 pandemic is also an important cause. The little exposure to pathogens during this period makes the immune system of many people no longer strong enough to deal with the new influenza virus strains.
Noon 11/2, many people took advantage of the lunch break to the vaccination center on Thai Ha street to get the flu. Dr. Nguyen Thu Thao said that this facility alone receives about 400-500 visitors every day, of which 90% is the flu vaccine. Many patients also come to the flu in combination with other vaccines such as pneumococcal, cervical cancer. Image: Giang Huy
Especially in Japan, with the rate of elderly people accounting for 29% of the population also increases the risk of serious illness and death. In addition, the simultaneous appearance of many other infectious diseases such as Covid-19, Mycoplasma pneumonia and gastritis have created a “disaster formula”.
Countries are promoting influenza vaccination, which is considered a top priority. The monitoring and research of new influenza strains have been enhanced to predict and respond promptly to dangerous variants. Wearing a mask, hand washing regularly and avoiding crowded gathering continues to be recommended by officials.