The flu epidemic has caused about 9,500 deaths this winter, a figure down from the previous two years, said Wednesday Public Health France.
The flu epidemic has been of moderate severity this year with about 9,500 deaths, according to a provisional estimate released Wednesday by Public Health France. "About 9,500 deaths (are) attributable to influenza since the start of surveillance" in October and until March 24, said the health agency. 87% of these deaths involve "people aged 75 and over". This figure is calculated from all-cause excess mortality over a period compared to the average of previous years. Public Health France then estimates how much of this excess mortality can be attributed to influenza.
A beginning of late epidemic. This viral disease had resulted in 14,400 deaths during the 2016-2017 epidemic and 12,980 last year, according to these estimates. Public Health France will publish next week a "preliminary assessment" covering the entire duration of the epidemic, which started late this year, in January, and ended in late March.
The public body also reports 633 cases of measles reported since January 1, against 1,686 cases in the same period in 2018, almost all "in subjects not or poorly vaccinated". 193 people had to be hospitalized, including 10 in intensive care, and 50 had pneumonia, one of the serious complications of measles. Public Health France announced in March the death of a woman from measles encephalitis. This disease has caused twenty deaths in France since 2008.