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There has been a huge increase of reported cases of flu this winter with latest figures revealing that more cases were identified in the first week of January 2013 than in the whole of December 2011.
Figures released by the National Institute for Public Health showed that there were approximately 60,000 cases being reported weekly during the first three weeks the December 2012. This was roughly double the figure for December 2011 where just over 116,000 cases were reported in the entire month.
From December 23, however, the number of cases being reported has increased dramatically with nearly 80,000 cases reported in the last week of the month before a huge jump saw nearly 140,000 cases reported in the first week of 2013 alone. Of note is that nearly a third of the cases reported for the first week of January came from the Pomorze (Pomerania) region. The next worse affected regions are Mazowieckie, Malopolska and Wielkapolska. These four provinces account for more than 70 percent of all cases in the country and it is estimated that in December and the first week of January 1 percent of the entire population was hit by the virus.
It is expected that the situation may worsen still with neighbouring Czech Republic suffering from what their Chief Sanitary Inspector has described as a ?flu epidemic? with over 1.5 percent of the population there suffering from the infection.
In addition to this particularly bad winter for the flu virus, there was also news this week of more deaths from the H1N1 virus commonly known as ?swine flu?. A 51-year old woman from Pila in the Wielkopolska region was admitted in December and despite showing signs of improvement her condition took a fatal turn for the worse earlier this week.
A man suffering from the virus was also admitted in December but has since been released. The woman is the sixth victim of the virus in Wielkopolska this winter with a 40-year old reported to have died in Trzcianka last week.
Cases of swine flu have also been reported in the Lower Silesia province with five deaths there. A female patient died at the Lower Silesian Centre of Lung Diseases in Wroclaw on Monday due to complications. She was being treated for another illness when the H1N1 virus was discovered and Magdalena Mieszkowska of the Regional Sanitary-Epidemiological unit in Wroclaw told TVN that her decreased immunity due to the other illness had made her more susceptible.
Authorities in Lower Silesia said that they had received reports of 28 cases of swine flu in the region with 22 of these in Wroclaw alone. Some hospitals were limiting visits and some units were only open to patients and staff.
Figures released by the National Institute for Public Health showed that there were approximately 60,000 cases being reported weekly during the first three weeks the December 2012. This was roughly double the figure for December 2011 where just over 116,000 cases were reported in the entire month.
From December 23, however, the number of cases being reported has increased dramatically with nearly 80,000 cases reported in the last week of the month before a huge jump saw nearly 140,000 cases reported in the first week of 2013 alone. Of note is that nearly a third of the cases reported for the first week of January came from the Pomorze (Pomerania) region. The next worse affected regions are Mazowieckie, Malopolska and Wielkapolska. These four provinces account for more than 70 percent of all cases in the country and it is estimated that in December and the first week of January 1 percent of the entire population was hit by the virus.
It is expected that the situation may worsen still with neighbouring Czech Republic suffering from what their Chief Sanitary Inspector has described as a ?flu epidemic? with over 1.5 percent of the population there suffering from the infection.
In addition to this particularly bad winter for the flu virus, there was also news this week of more deaths from the H1N1 virus commonly known as ?swine flu?. A 51-year old woman from Pila in the Wielkopolska region was admitted in December and despite showing signs of improvement her condition took a fatal turn for the worse earlier this week.
A man suffering from the virus was also admitted in December but has since been released. The woman is the sixth victim of the virus in Wielkopolska this winter with a 40-year old reported to have died in Trzcianka last week.
Cases of swine flu have also been reported in the Lower Silesia province with five deaths there. A female patient died at the Lower Silesian Centre of Lung Diseases in Wroclaw on Monday due to complications. She was being treated for another illness when the H1N1 virus was discovered and Magdalena Mieszkowska of the Regional Sanitary-Epidemiological unit in Wroclaw told TVN that her decreased immunity due to the other illness had made her more susceptible.
Authorities in Lower Silesia said that they had received reports of 28 cases of swine flu in the region with 22 of these in Wroclaw alone. Some hospitals were limiting visits and some units were only open to patients and staff.
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