South African flu numbers set for ‘August bump’ after schools reopened

It has been a tough winter season in South Africa with the country’s biggest medical scheme administrator seeing a significant bump in people needing medicine for respiratory tract infections.

Dr Ron Whelan, the chief commercial officer at Discovery Health, said the  number of members claiming for treatment of respiratory conditions from January to July rose by 26.4% compared with the same period last year.

“Antibiotics and medications to relieve obstructive airway diseases were the medications most claimed for during this period.”

Whelan said they were encouraged by a 13.5% increase in the uptake of flu vaccines between January and July 2023 compared with 2022.

“In the last five years [2019 to July 2023], the highest uptake of flu vaccines across the Discovery Health Medical Scheme was in 2020 when 207,000 flu vaccinations were administered, and the lowest uptake was in 2022 when 147,000 flu vaccinations were administered,” he said.

But Whelan said they did not have data showing that the flu season was more severe this year.

“We are encouraged by the increase in influenza vaccination rates relative to 2022. However, we have not seen sustained influenza vaccination levels since the highs during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.”

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) noted in June that flu-like illness had increased from 10 April 2023.

At the time, the most common flu virus in circulation was Influenza A (H3N2), followed by the H1N1 variant, commonly known as swine flu, and Influenza B. Both the A and B strains of the virus are common seasonal flu strains.

From June, laboratory-confirmed flu cases also increased and the NICD received reports of influenza clusters in congregate settings like workplaces and schools.

In its latest respiratory pathogen surveillance report, the NICD warned of a second peak of flu cases following the reopening of schools after the winter holidays. This was after analysing the data up to 6 August.

According to the latest available data, peak flu season was in the week of 4 June and this persisted for the next six weeks until the middle of July.

At surveillance sites, where the NICD screens specifically for influenza, most of the cases found were for H3N2 (bird flu) with most reported cases in the Western Cape, followed by Gauteng. DM