As the 40th week of 2019 begins, weekly flu (influenza) /Illness like influenza monitoring begins. According to the legislation, influenza reporting is carried out weekly, from the 40th week of the current year to the 20th week of the following year, by age groups of the Influenza Report. During the 40th week of 2019 (from 30.09.2019 – 06.10.2019), 4 (I = 0.2 / 100,000) cases of influenza / flu-like illnesses were reported in the Republic of North Macedonia. The Influenza cases have been reported from Shtip (n = 2) and Tetovo (n = 2).
In terms of age distribution, two of the patients are from the age group of 15-64 years and one person is from the age groups of 0-4 years and 15-64 years.
During the 40th reporting week, no materials were available for laboratory testing of influenza in the IPH laboratory for virology.
VACCINATION
Vaccination against seasonal influenza is the best protection against this disease. Institute of Public Health recommends to those with chronic illnesses and persons with reduced immunity, to come to the nearest Public Health Center or Regional Unit to get more detailed information about the seasonal flu vaccination.
EUROPEAN REGION
The first report on the flu status in the European Region at the start of the new 2019/2020 season (40 weeks) will be presented in the next report.
According to a report by Flu News Europe released for the period 21-39 week 2019, the activity of influenza virus is at a low seasonal level. During this period, <1% (11 positive of 1,584 samples) were tested positive for influenza virus. The majority of positive samples (9 of 11) are Influenza A virus.
