Over the past week in the region:

• After 12 weeks, the flu epidemic is coming to an end. SOS Médecins’ activity has dropped below the epidemic threshold. Isolations of influenza viruses have become rarer, with serotype B accounting for the majority (80% of the 16 isolates identified by virology laboratories).

• The number of severe flu cases hospitalized in intensive care (136 cases) was very high, nearly double that observed in previous years, leading to capacity saturation in several intensive care units. This number has been declining sharply over the past 3 weeks.

• 206 clusters of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and 88 clusters of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) have been reported since September 1, 2014. The number of new ARI clusters has been very low for the past three weeks.

• Emergency room visits by people aged 75 and older have fallen below alert thresholds. Only the Angers University Hospital is reporting a number of visits above the threshold. Mortality among people over 85 has returned to normal.

• This marks the fourth consecutive week of rising gastroenteritis cases. This increase is particularly pronounced among children under 5 years of age (based on visits to the pediatric emergency departments at the Nantes University Hospital and SOS Médecins), suggesting an outbreak of rotavirus infections. This virus can also cause outbreaks in nursing homes, primarily characterized by diarrhea (unlike norovirus, which mainly causes vomiting).