Flu outbreak in Europe and the United States, the respiratory tract is a favorite

The two-year absence of influenza has started to erupt again in the US and other countries, much to the relief of many European and American IVD companies, as the Newcrest multiplex market will bring them new revenue growth, while the Flu B clinics needed for multiplex FDA approval can begin.
Prior to the New Crown epidemic, influenza viruses (Flu A and Flu B) caused illness in tens of millions of Americans, and tens of thousands of deaths, each winter. In the winter of 2018-2019, influenza caused 13 million visits, 380,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths. Over the past two years, however, the number of people infected with influenza and RSV has declined as the new crown epidemic has prompted widespread mask wearing, social distancing and the closure of schools and daycare centres.
As the world lies flat and national precautions are abandoned, flu season is back, and the 2022 flu season is coming a little earlier and is predicted by public health experts to be worse than before the New Crown epidemic. The chart below shows the latest CDC statistics on the number of people hospitalised due to the flu, and it is clear that the 2022 flu season is going to be much earlier than before.

▲ CDC statistics on the cumulative annual percentage of confirmed influenza (Week 40 of 2021 is October 3)

The outbreak of influenza was not accompanied by an improvement in the new crown epidemic in the United States, as the share of new variants BQ.1.1, BQ.1 and BF.7 continued to expand, with the top three prevalent variants in the United States from 30 October to 5 November being: BA.5 (39.2%), BQ.1.1 (18.8%) and BQ.1 (16.5%). BA.5, BA.1.1, BQ.1 BF.4.6, BF.7 and various other variant strains were prevalent at the same time.

These new mutations have increased the immune escape of the neo-coronavirus, causing the number of new neo-coronavirus patients in the United States to increase recently, unlike in other countries. According to the CDC, the overlapping increase in the number of influenza and New Coronavirus infections in the United States has led to a significant increase in hospital visits for respiratory infections.

Infected children in particular are more severely affected because they have extremely weakened immune systems. This is mainly due to the fact that many children have not been exposed to the influenza/RSV virus prior to the new pandemic or their immunity is weakened.

The CDC noted that influenza vaccination rates for all age groups decreased slightly last year compared to the previous year, with the largest drop in vaccination rates for at-risk children aged 6 months to 4 years, from 75 per cent before the new epidemic to 67 per cent. The CDC data also shows that the proportion of influenza infections in children has been particularly striking this year, having exceeded 10% in the last 3 weeks.

This will be a boon for IVD companies with Newcrest multi-test products. In the future, the Newcrest testing market will be a market dominated by Newcrest + Flu A + Flu B multi-test products, in addition to RSV and Strep A testing, for which there is also long-term demand.

Our company has already developed FluA/B and SARS-CoV-2 multi-test products and has obtained CEIVD certification.