Diseases | Diseases are spreading through the wholesale trade at the same time – “Let’s pay those interest rates”, says the chief doctor

in Finland there are now several respiratory infections at the same time, and the disease situation is expected to intensify as autumn progresses.

“There will be more respiratory tract infections than in previous years,” estimates the chief physician of infectious diseases Asko Järvinen from the Hus group.

Common colds are mainly caused by rhinoviruses and enteroviruses. In addition to them, there is also the rs virus, influenza and corona, which lead to more serious illness.

Disease burden whooping cough and mycoplasma, which have already spread in spring and summer, also grow.

According to Järvinen, there have been more confirmed cases of whooping cough this year than ever before in the 2000s. Whooping cough is on the move, especially in southern Finland.

According to Järvinen, whooping cough spread more in the spring from infections received from abroad.

“Now it’s spreading here perhaps more on a population basis,” he says.

Järvinen calls whooping cough a lazy disease, because some sufferers can suffer from a cough that lasts up to three months. Spasmodic coughing attacks often occur at night.

For the smallest children, whooping cough can be life-threatening.

Also the number of mycoplasma cases confirmed in the laboratory has increased strongly. During the current year, more confirmed mycoplasma discoveries have already been made in the Hus area than, for example, in 2016 and 2017, Järvinen says.

Laboratory-confirmed cases are, however, only the tip of the iceberg of all disease cases, Järvinen points out.

“The [mykoplasmaa] is more than it has been for years,” says Järvinen.

Mycoplasma is a respiratory infection caused by bacteria. As a rule, it causes a mild form of the disease, but the most severe form is pneumonia.

Pneumonia caused by mycoplasma has exceptionally taken children and young people to the hospital, which has caught the attention of doctors, says Järvinen.

According to Järvinen, the number of young people in hospital can be counted on the fingers of a few hands, but normally there are significantly fewer cases requiring hospital treatment in the same age groups.

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The disease situation is the basis for lifting the corona restrictions.

Chief physician according to the current disease situation is the basis for lifting the corona restrictions. During the corona years, people avoided each other to such an extent that, for example, whooping cough and mycoplasma hardly occurred. When diseases were not encountered, people also did not develop immunity for the future.

“In a way, this is where the interest is paid.”

It can be expected that the epidemics will intensify, that is, there will be more disease cases, says Järvinen.

Only the spread of the coronavirus currently shows signs of leveling off. According to Järvinen, an exceptional increase in the number of corona cases was seen in the summer, but now, for example, the number of patients needing hospital treatment and wastewater concentrations have been decreasing.

“Now then, let’s wait and see what kind and how significant the coronavirus epidemic is ahead.”

Positive is that for the vast majority of citizens the diseases that are raging now are mostly embarrassing and not so much dangerous.

“Some disease may strike more than what one is usually used to, but there is not necessarily any other effect,” says Järvinen.