Pneumonia is on a rise in Latvia. The spread of this disease is higher than ever in the past ten flu seasons, as reported by the Disease Prevention and Control Centre (SPKC).
According to the centre, this is partially related to the spread of pneumonia caused by mycoplasma bacteria. Infection rate with pneumonia is the highest in the 14 years age group.
The topic of human metamneumovirus (cMPV) in Latvia and other countries becomes relevant every year during seasons of upper respiratory tract infections, according to SPKC. Data from Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS) National Microbiology Laboratory shows there are isolated, sporadic cMPV-induced infections.
At the end of 2024, the proportion of cMPV cases had increased from 0.4% of the total number of tested samples at the beginning of December to 2.4% at the end of December. At the beginning of January 2025, it went down to 0.4%, according to SPKC data. Symptoms caused by cMPV are often similar to other seasonal diseases caused by viruses. These include coughing, runny nose and fatigue.
Monitoring data shows seasonal flu is the dominant infection at the moment – it is found in up to 20% of all tested samples. Mycoplasma bacterium-induced pneumonia is found in 13.8% of cases, Covid-19 infection is found in 5.1% of cases. The spread of other seasonal viruses, such as rhinovirus, adenovirus and bocavirus does not exceed 2%. A-type flu is currently the dominant of all flu viruses active in Latvia. This virus is found in 87.5% of cases, SPKC reports.
Infection rates are the highest in Riga. Nevertheless, since the start of the season, flu infections have been registered in eight territories.
Since the start of the season, SPKC has received reports from four medical institutions about deceased patients who were diagnosed with flu. All of those patients were older than 60. All of them also had chronic liver and kidney problems, as well as problems with the nervous system.
In December, the proportion of patients with severe acute respiratory infections in hospitals continued to increase from 3.9% to 8.1% of the total number of patients admitted. However, this indicator does not exceed the proportion observed in the previous season, SPKC reports.
Since mid-December, a decrease in the spread of Covid-19 has been observed in Latvia, which at the end of the year reached the share of 5.1% of positive cases. However, there are still weekly reports of deaths in Covid-19 patients from medical institutions.
According to the SPKC, in the first week of this year, SPKC received information about six deaths with a confirmed Covid-19 infection.
Since the start of the season, 78 deaths have been recorded in Covid-19 patients.
Generally, the epidemiological situation in Latvia is appropriate to the season, SPKC reports.