Over the past week in the region:

Decrease in the number of elderly patients visiting emergency departments and a high number of deaths among the very elderly.

The flu epidemic continues to spread. Over the past week, the number of clinical flu cases seen in outpatient settings by SOS Médecins and the Grog/Sentinelles Unified Network has risen sharply, while the number of emergency room visits by children under 15 (pediatric emergency department at Nantes University Hospital) is declining. All three influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, and B) are involved, with each having a preference for a different target population: virus B predominates among children, A(H1N1)p among adults, and A(H3N2) among the elderly.Since late November 2012, 34 cases of severe influenza, two-thirds of whom were aged between 40 and 64, have been hospitalized in intensive care units in the region. One-third of them had no risk factors. Nationally, the majority of severe cases are linked to the A(H1N1)p virus. The outbreak among the elderly is much milder than last year. However, 89 outbreaks of acute respiratory infections in nursing homes have been reported since mid-December.