Japan’s flu season worsens, children most affected

The number of flu cases in Japan is rising faster than last year, with children being hit the hardest.

The Japan Institute for Health Security says that 196,895 flu cases were reported by about 3,000 medical institutions during the week through November 23. That’s 1.35 times the previous week’s figure.

The average number of cases per medical institution hit 51.12. The figure topped 50 for the first time this flu season. That threshold was reached about a month earlier than last year.

The health ministry says that during the week through November 9, about 80 percent of the 84,183 flu cases involved people under the age of 20.

Saito Akihiko, head of the Japanese Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and professor of pediatrics at Niigata University, says pediatric wards of some hospitals in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture have been short of beds because of an increasing number of children with the flu being hospitalized. Some have developed encephalopathy and are in serious condition.

Saito is calling on schools to ventilate classrooms, and for people to wear masks in crowded areas, wash hands frequently, and get vaccinated to prevent flu from developing into a serious illness.