The doctor explained the changes in the standard of medical care for the flu

The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation has approved an updated standard of medical care for adults with influenza, according to which seven doctors of various specialties can participate in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. As Andrey Kondrakhin, a general practitioner and Candidate of Medical Sciences, explained in an interview with Izvestia on January 27, this change is aimed at more effective detection and prevention of complications that previously could have been ignored.

According to the doctor, previously, the management of patients with influenza, especially in mild form, was mainly handled by a therapist, and, if necessary, an infectious disease specialist was involved. However, the influenza virus can cause serious complications from the cardiovascular, nervous, and respiratory systems, as well as affect the course of pregnancy or chronic diseases. The new standard regulates the involvement of specialized specialists in consultation with relevant symptoms: cardiologist, neurologist, pulmonologist, hematologist, obstetrician-gynecologist and others.

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The Ministry of Health has eliminated antibiotics and expanded the list of flu examinations.

Kondrakhin noted that such a measure is logical and timely, since other diseases may be hidden under the guise of influenza, and the virus itself can provoke exacerbations of existing pathologies.

"It all depends on what we can detect in the patient. The involvement of other specialists allows us to comprehensively assess the risks and avoid complications," the doctor emphasized.

The new approach, according to the therapist, changes the paradigm of care: if earlier the emphasis was on the treatment of the actual viral infection, now the standard is focused on the safety of the patient as a whole, requiring interdisciplinary interaction. The average duration of treatment according to the approved standard is nine days.

The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said on December 11 last year that 17 regions of Russia were experiencing an excess of epidemic flu rates. According to her, the most common type of this disease is variant A (H3N2). The greatest number of cases occurs among school students.

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