Rio de Janeiro experiences Influenza outbreak; symptoms lead to confusion with Covid-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Last week, public health authorities observed an increase in flu cases (influenza A) in the city of Rio de Janeiro. According to the Municipal Health Secretariat, the city is experiencing an outbreak of the disease.

Since Influenza and Covid-19 can share certain symptoms and the transmission is also similar – it can happen through contact with secretions from the respiratory tract of someone who is infected – the situation is causing confusion among the population.

“We still don’t have consolidated data on how many tests have come back positive for influenza over the past week, we are working with sampling. But less than 3% of cases tested in this period showed positivity for Covid-19,” explained Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz.

“The main strategy to contain the spread is to vaccinate people for the flu: although it is less lethal than Covid-19, it deserves all our attention, mainly for groups that usually have more severe symptoms, such as children up to 6 years of age, pregnant women, and the elderly,” the Secretary points out.

Faced with the rise in influenza cases, Rio’s City Hall reiterates that the flu vaccine is still available for the population at health posts. Currently, immunization is available to everyone, except children under 6 months old.

According to the Ministry of Health, vaccination can be done on the same day of the second dose or the booster against Covid-19. The measure aims to facilitate immunization against the flu, saving the population from returning several times to health posts, and the measure poses no risk.

“We have about 400,000 doses of the flu vaccine in the municipality’s health posts, which is enough for us to vaccinate over a long period of time. We will only request more doses from the Ministry of Health if necessary, which doesn’t seem to be the case yet,” explains Rio’s Health Secretary.

According to Soranz, vaccination coverage of the influenza vaccination campaign target group stood at only 57%. Therefore, vaccination continues in the city, long after the official end of the campaign in August. Doses will be available in the public network for as long as immunizers are available.

“We never expect an outbreak of flu at this time of the year, because this is typical of winter months, but it was also expected that once Covid-19 cases dropped, another respiratory disease could reappear: we’ve had very few cases of Influenza in the last 2 years, which indicates that we still have many people susceptible to the disease,” Soranz notes.

Whether it is the flu or Covid-19, the form of prevention is the same. In these cases, people should:

• Keep their hands always sanitized, with sanitizer gel or soap and water;
• Avoid closed environments, with low air circulation;
• Keep away from crowds, where viruses can eventually be transmitted;
• Wear masks to avoid both contamination and the transmission of potential infectious agents; and
• Be vaccinated, as there are safe and effective immunizers, available for free at health posts all over Brazil.

Rhinitis, influenza, Covid-19 and viral diseases are different conditions. For instance, fever can be common for both Influenza and Covid-19. When in doubt, the patient should always seek medical help, and telemedicine is an alternative to consider. Whenever possible, testing for Covid-19 is recommended, as this is the only sure way to rule out the disease.