Influenza tests the limits of the transfer of patients from La Fe

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Influenza tests the limits of the transfer of patients from La Fe Health think ill caravan delay beyond January 30 JAIME PRATS - Valencia - 20/01/2011
With the cold comes the flu. And with the flu and cold, the complications of the chronically ill and hospitals saturation. Apparently, there is then a good time to undertake the complex operation to move nearly 400 inpatients.
With the cold comes the flu. And with the flu and cold, the complications of the chronically ill and hospitals saturation. Apparently, there is then a good time to undertake the complex operation to move nearly 400 patients hospitalized in a hospital on the edge of the city of Valencia (La Fe de Campanar) to another at the other end (The Faith of Malilla) by health caravan in two successive Sundays.
However, Health had planned to perform the operation on 30 January. Yesterday, the Minister Manuel Cervera said that, if sustained, the current epidemiological situation of spread of avian influenza "would advise against the transfer on schedule" for the first 150 patients, hospitalized children and maternal wards.
It is possible that 2011 was not an election year and if goes to the polls in May not the Consell have expected a warmer date to guarantee a more comfortable transport. Not so. And the dates chosen for starting the operation (16, 23 or 30 January with the first batch of patients) have coincided with the advance of flu in Valencia.
It is true that this circumstance is impossible to hit out months in advance and can be very variable. It is also true that it is normal that the flu hit harder in January or the first weeks of February, when it gets colder in Valencia, according to data from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET). According to its records, the coldest day is January 5 (based on average of the last 35 years). And the two lower temperatures of the past 100 years have been the 11 and 12 February 1956 to -7.2 degrees. Indeed, early next month is when the planned transfer of patients hospitalized in the central hospital.
The latest data on HIV incidence is made public (for the second week of January) indicates that there are 148 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. Is 28.7% more than the previous week, indicating that the epidemic curve is still growing. "If we see, as is happening, which is increasing the flu, the same week you can take the decision to delay the operation [of transfer] a week because it is important to do well and is made one week before or after is less importance, "the adviser said yesterday.
In any case, said no decision has yet been taken and that the reference date remains 30 January, the last Sunday of the month. "So far we have not moved," he said.
Cervera said that a possible change of dates is not an issue because "the work is being done in an efficient manner," why there is "capacity to decide in the same week, four or five days before."
The comparison of the current epidemic of flu last year does not provide too much information due to the exceptional circumstances arising from the outbreak of influenza A. Then the epidemic peak occurred in November and came to exceed 600 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 148 today. More normal was last season, when in January 2009 exceeded 200 cases, or 2007, which reached similar values in early February.