Is the Australian flu dangerous for the brain? This new flu variant, along with RSV, Covid and pneumococcal pneumonia, are the main seasonal respiratory infections whose contributing factors could cause an increase in encephalitis, especially among those over 60 years of age and people with chronic diseases. Infectious disease specialists urge people to get vaccinated. “It is important to remember that all influenza viruses can reach the central nervous system and cause very serious and significant encephalitis,” explains Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of Simit, the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, during the meeting organized by Pfizer. . for the presentation of the “Get used to Protect yourself” campaign, to raise awareness about the importance of vaccination against respiratory infections. “The more severe the flu, the greater the number of cases that affect the central nervous system,” he continues. “We have already seen in the other hemisphere, where winter arrives before ours, that the Australian flu is a very serious disease with many cases, more than 15 million and many hospitalizations, so based on this data we have to fear that there will also be “This is a particularly serious form of flu in Italy. In our country, an average of between 5,000 and 15,000 people die each year from the flu. Vaccination becomes essential.” In Italy, diseases such as pneumonia and flu are among the top ten causes of death. However, vaccination coverage rates in the country remain unsatisfactory: according to the recent ECDC report, Italy ranks 16th and 17th among 28 European countries in coverage in different age groups, highlighting the urgency of improving vaccination compliance “We should expect a peak in flu and flu syndromes after the holidays. It is crucial to promote a culture of prevention,” continues Roberta Siliquini, president of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SitI). “An effective vaccination campaign, careful planning and widespread organization are needed to ensure that everyone citizens have access to the protections available against the main respiratory viruses.” Regarding the Australian flu, the same rules for protection apply: “The same measures must always be maintained, such as avoiding infecting others by walking without a mask, wash your hands, but above all protect yourself with the vaccine, because it provides some type of immune response to reduce the severity of the disease,” he concludes. Among the diseases highlighted by Siliquini with the greatest spread during this fall-winter are “the flu, “SARS-CoV-2, which is no longer so seasonal and has peaks even outside of autumn-winter, and respiratory syncytial virus, which is dangerous.” not only for adults and vulnerable individuals but also for newborns.” Siliquini emphasizes the need for “an effective vaccination campaign, careful planning and widespread organization to ensure that all citizens have access to the protections available against the main respiratory viruses “. Regarding the Australian flu, to protect yourself “you must always maintain the same measures, such as avoiding infecting others by walking without a mask, washing your hands, but above all protecting yourself with the vaccine, because it provides some type of immune response.” reduce the severity of the disease,” he concludes. “At the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, we have a first case of the H3N2 virus in a 76-year-old patient admitted to Infectious Diseases, who could not even recognize his wife. Among the first symptoms, he reported not being able to taste food when eating. The flu season does not bode well; it is a virus that affects not only the lungs, the throat, but also the brain. This is an important fact that has already emerged in Australia and demonstrates the tropism of H3N2. , director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, to Adnkronos Greetings “Therefore, we must get vaccinated because if we had more cases like this, or even encephalitis and neurological involvement due to flu, hospitals would have an influx of patients and a difficult situation,” Bassetti emphasizes.