Doctor warns that this year’s flu hits hard

Vaccination against fluOslo.Vaccination against flu.Photo: Ole Gunnar Onsøien / NTB scanpix

More than every fourth bed in the emergency department at Haukeland University Hospital is now used by flu patients. The hospital has not had a similar situation since the swine flu in 2009.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s map of flu developments in Norway show that the highest proportion of patients with flu symptoms is found in Oslo and Vestfold, closely followed by Hordaland, Rogaland and Finnmark,  the newspaper VG reports. Doctor Hans Flaatten ICU at Haukeland says they have not had a similar situation this early in the winter since the swine flu outbreak in 2009.
It’s the same virus, influenza A, H1N1, that is the cause of the flu this year, but it is not called swine flu.Only the patients who have been hit the hardest are admitted to hospital. Close to half a million people in Norway are at increased risk for complications due to flu and  every year 900 people die as a result of the disease.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today