Over the past week in the region:

The flu epidemic has remained the major health issue for more than 9 weeks. Since Christmas, 144,000 people in the region have consulted a general practitioner for clinical flu (with a fever > 39°C). All surveillance systems show the beginning of a decline, which is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks with the start of school holidays. Since late November 2012, 45 cases of severe influenza (including 6 deaths) have been hospitalized in intensive care units in the region. This number of cases is 2.5 times higher than during the previous epidemic in 2011–12. The age distribution of these severe cases shows a peak in incidence among people aged 50 to 59, as observed during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, which were characterized by the circulation of the pandemic A(H1N1) virus. All three influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, and B) are still circulating. This co-circulation likely explains the unusual duration of this epidemic and the diversity of impacts by age, with virus B predominant among children, A(H1N1)p among adults, and A(H3N2) among the elderly.The epidemic among the elderly appears to have started later, with an increase in outbreaks of acute respiratory infections in nursing homes since the end of January.