The Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) this week begins its annual monitoring of influenza and acute respiratory infections in Latvia, which will continue until spring next year, the agency LETA was informed by the institution.
The monitoring is conducted to timely determine the onset of an epidemic, track the intensity and trends of disease spread in various age groups.
It covers a range of infectious diseases, including influenza, Covid-19, other acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, and severe acute respiratory infections in hospitals. The circulation of other respiratory viruses is also laboratory determined - respiratory syncytial virus, rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, parainfluenza, adenoviruses, metapneumovirus, bocavirus, and others.
This season, monitoring includes 45 family doctor practices in Liepaja, Ventspils, Daugavpils, Rezekne, Jurmala, Valmiera, Gulbene, and Jekabpils regions, as well as in Jelgava and Riga. More than 72,000 patients are registered in these practices, accounting for 3.9% of the population of Latvia.
The monitoring also covers hospitals across Latvia and educational institutions - 30 schools with 20,000 students and 32 preschool institutions with 5,000 children.
The CDC urges the residents of Latvia to get vaccinated against influenza, emphasizing that the optimal time for vaccination is late October or early November, so that protection is formed by the peak of the epidemic, which will last throughout the season.
Epidemiological observation data indicate that in Latvia, the spread of influenza usually reaches the epidemic threshold in the second half of January, with the highest morbidity observed in February, gradually decreasing by April and May.
