The flu season in Japan has continued into May, with experts attributing the prolonged spread of infections to low herd immunity and government relaxation of coronavirus measures.
Group infections have forced some schools to close entirely or close some classes even after infections peaked in February.
"This is the first time we've had so many infections," said an official at a private high school in Oita, southwestern Japan, where around 500 people, including staff and a quarter of all students, were infected from May 11 to 22 following a sports festival.
Also this month, around 500 students at a high school in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, were infected around the time of a sports festival, while about 100 students got sick at an elementary school in Chofu, western Tokyo.
Experts also noted that measures against COVID-19 had prevented mass influenza infections from late 2020, meaning people have decreased immunity against the illness. They warned of a possible surge in infections this winter.
According to a tally by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the weekly number of influenza cases reported at designated medical institutions exceeded one patient in December, marking the start of the flu season for the first time in three years.
But while the number of cases peaked at 12.91 per institution in the first half of February, the season has yet to end. The number was 1.36 cases from May 8 to 14, compared to 0.74 for the same period in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Norio Sugaya, a visiting professor at Keio University specializing in infectious diseases, said that influenza infections plummeted during the COVID-19 outbreak as people adopted mask-wearing en masse and avoided going out to eat.
Sugaya said this year's protracted spread was caused by weakened herd immunity as well as the government's decision to downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 earlier this month and broadly ease anti-virus guidelines, while also warning group infections could occur even in summer if the virus is brought by people arriving from overseas.
"The elderly, young children and people with underlying conditions are at risk of becoming seriously ill," Sugaya warned of the coming winter, urging them to "get vaccinated and be prepared."
© KYODO
11 Comments
Jay
Then why was a mass, one-size-fits-all vaccination scheme pushed by government and medical authorities, regardless of age and medical history?
didou
Well, I have not heard of any case around
Fredrik
So, this "flu season" is in other words "COVID-19 downgraded to flu season"?
Roy Sophveason
Sugaya is talking about the influenza vaccine. Keep up.
No. Believe it or not, doctors and RIDTs can actually distinguish between Covid and influenza.
virusrex
No such thing, the vaccines were recommended for all patient for which they decreased the risk, which ended up being most people, but valid exceptions were present. Vaccination also have zero role in increasing the risk from influenza.
No, those "other words" would be completely wrong. Influenza has it own risks, but it is also much easier to stop the transmission compared with covid. Isolation, masks, vaccines had a much stronger effect on influenza, the problem is that many of the measures are not sustainable.
Hervé L'Eisa
Perhaps their immune systems have been compromised/damaged by certain other medical treatments, an unintended consequence.
virusrex
That is not a possibility, it is terribly easy to compare between people taking or not any specific medical treatments and identify a higher susceptibility, this is not the case.
Is like imagining that maybe people got their immune systems compromised by living on any specific place, it would be so terribly obvious that it makes no sense to think it could go unnoticed.
Roy Sophveason
How would the treatment for athlete's foot damage the immune system?
Babe Ruth
Ahh, the famous no name "Experts".
Exactly what measures prevented anything, JT?
Care to be more specific? Because every single study now being released show that any and all measures failed miserably.
Yubaru
Right, influenza has a treatment, and a test, that is relatively inexpensive. And of course COVID numbers are going to drop, as now testing is no longer free and can cost anywhere from 4,000 to over 20,000 yen per test.
All payable by the individual. Who in their right mind is going to pay for a test, just to "prove" they are infected or not. No one.
tora
Never had no flu before Covid, ever, never had it during, or since. Nothing changed for me. Never wore mask really, and ignored most of the senseless "urges".
It is possible that their immune systems have been severely comprised due to over use of masks, constantly sanitising themselves 24/7 having little contact with others etc (especially children, who build up their immunity through expose to various nasties.
Perhaps somebody should do a study to see if there is a correlation between how many jabs people have had and instances of this flu as well. Remember, Japanese are some of the most vaxed people on earth. Its weird they just keep on getting sick, even though they are taking all of these precautions.