Over the past week in the region:

• The flu epidemic is considered to be over. There may still be some circulation of influenza viruses, primarily serotype B, for a few weeks.

• The number of severe flu cases requiring intensive care (139 cases) was very high, nearly double that observed in previous years. This number has been declining sharply over the past three weeks.

• 207 clusters of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and 92 clusters of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) have been reported since September 1, 2014. The number of new clusters has been very low for the past month.

• Emergency room visits by people aged 75 or older have fallen back below the alert thresholds. Only the Angers University Hospital is still reporting a number of visits above the threshold.

• This marks the fifth consecutive week that the epidemic threshold for gastroenteritis has been exceeded. This increase is particularly pronounced among children under 5 years of age (visits to the pediatric emergency departments at the Nantes University Hospital and SOS Médecins), suggesting an outbreak of rotavirus infections.