The Health Bureau (SSM) said yesterday that it recorded last month five influenza patients who required ventilatory support, three of whom were unvaccinated, and in the light of this the bureau urged the public, once more, to take proper personal precautions during the influenza peak season and to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Macau’s flu season has reached its peak since December last year, and Areia Preta Health Centre Chief Chou Mei Fong said in a media interview yesterday she expected the flu virus to remain active this month.
According to Chou, the number of daily attendances at emergency departments and the city’s public health centres in the past week dropped slightly compared to the week before the Chinese New Year holiday, with daily attendances of about 1,200 to 1,300 – 80 percent of whom were adults and the remainder were kids, while in terms of the number of influenza-like illnesses reported at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre and the private Kiang Wu Hospital, the positivity rate of influenza was less than 10 percent.
However, Chou was quick to point out that “the figure only mirrors the situation during the Chinese New Year holiday” when more residents travelled outside Macau, adding she expected another surge of influenza after the Chinese New Year holiday ends later this week.
Chou underlined that people at high risk, including senior citizens, chronically ill patients, pregnant women and young children, are more likely to suffer serious complications or may even die after being infected with the influenza virus. She identified the five influenza patients in critical condition as local residents aged between 38 and 86, four of whom have a history of chronic illness, and one a smoker, saying that two of them, as of yesterday, with severe influenza were still on ventilators, while the 86-year-old died on Monday due to other illnesses.
Chou also urged those who plan to travel elsewhere to confirm the locations of medical institutions there beforehand, avoid going to crowded places, pay attention to personal protection, and seek medical attention as soon as possible in case of respiratory symptoms.
Image courtesy of the European Academy of Paediatrics
