After a brief respite at the end of 2025, the seasonal flu epidemic threatens to resume, driven in particular by children, and is already causing a significant proportion of deaths, mainly among the elderly, the public health agency summarized on Wednesday.
The resurgence among children "could lead to a resurgence in the use of care among adults in the coming weeks," Public Health France warned in a weekly report, judging "very difficult to anticipate the impact that such an epidemic resurgence could have on the healthcare system."
For several weeks, the flu epidemic has been affecting the entire mainland as well as most of the overseas regions. Only Réunion has been spared, but after a first wave, it too seems threatened by a resurgence.
Health authorities had hoped that a peak had passed with the new year, but after a brief decline, consultations in the city have rebounded in recent days, "a trend particularly marked among children under 15."
The overall trend remains downward in hospitals, but they tend to lag a few days behind the trends in general practice. And hospitalizations are already increasing for children under five.
The public health agency has already noted a persistent increase in flu-related deaths. It is too early to provide precise figures, but a trend is already apparent by examining the proportion of deaths officially attributed to the flu among all deaths with electronic certificates.
This proportion is now at the "level reached at the peak of the 2024-2025 epidemic (7.2% compared to 7.4% at the time)", and deaths are very largely affecting those over 65, noted Public Health France.
Last season was marked by one of the most severe epidemics since 2009, with some 17,600 deaths attributed to influenza, compared to an average of around 10,000. This toll was partly linked to low vaccination rates.
Although the proportion of vaccinated French people appears higher this season, with more than half of those aged 65 and over vaccinated (53%), it remains far from the targets.
Another major winter epidemic, bronchiolitis, which focuses on very young children, confirms its decline across the entire territory: several regions are moving into the "post-epidemic" phase and the Île-de-France region has returned to a normal level.
English 
French