(ANSA) - Rome, January 25 - Italy is having a record flu
season and there will have been 7.5-8 million cases by the end
of the epidemic, virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco told ANSA
Thursday.
"Considering that now there are already around five million
Italians hit by flue viruses, we can estimate that at the end of
the season the total cases will arrive at 7.5-8 million," said
Pregliasco, a researcher at Milan university and health director
of the IRCCS Galeazzi Institute.
Italy's flu epidemic has peaked at over 4.7 million cases so
far, the Higher Health Institute's Influnet service said earlier
Thursday.
The number of cases was now gradually declining, Influnet
said.
In the third week of the year there were 794,000 new cases
for a total, since the epidemic started being watched, of
4,728,000 Italians who were confined to their beds by the
epidemic.
The incidence is still at a 'high intensity' level of 13.1
per 1,000 but lower than the previous week, when it was 14.5,
Influnet said.
Record flu season (3)
Top virologist tells ANSA