"NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has warned that between 5,000 and 8,000 hospital beds could be filled with flu patients by the weekend. Health experts at the King's Fund think tank have said talk of an "unrelenting flu wave" has become worrying familiar over recent years. How then is winter 2025 really any different and which patients have been affected most by what the NHS is now describing as "super flu"?"
"When someone goes to their GP or hospital with flu-like symptoms they can be tested for a number of viruses including influenza, Covid and RSV. UKHSA records the percentage of those tests that come back positive for flu, which can then give a strong indication that rates in the community are either rising or falling. Virologists have linked the earlier flu season this year to a subtle shift in the genetic makeup of the main flu virus that is circulating - called H3N2."
"So-called 'super-flu' is not a medical term and it does not mean the virus is more severe or harder to treat. But the general public has not encountered this exact version of flu before, which means there may be less immunity built up in society, allowing it to spread more easily. Children tend to be more susceptible to flu than older adults, partly because their immune systems are still developing and because they tend to spread viruses more quickly through close contact."
The NHS is facing a worst-case scenario after hospital flu admissions rose 55% in a week, with projections of 5,000–8,000 beds occupied by flu patients. The 2025 flu season began about a month earlier than recent years, with October UKHSA data indicating an early rise. Testing in GP and hospital settings identifies influenza, Covid and RSV, and UKHSA tracks the percentage of flu-positive tests to gauge community spread. Virologists link the earlier surge to a subtle genetic shift in circulating H3N2. The unfamiliar variant has left less population immunity, enabling wider spread and higher positive-test proportions among children and young people.
Read at www.bbc.com
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