Abstract

The influenza epidemic that affected Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Martin during the 2019–2020 season began at the same time as the previous season, namely in mid-January. In Saint Barthélemy, it began in late December.

The epidemic lasted for a similar duration in all four territories (10 to 11 weeks), which corresponds to the duration observed during the two previous seasons in Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthélemy. In Martinique, the epidemic was shorter than in the two previous seasons (13 weeks in 2017–2018 and 18 weeks in 2018–2019).

The severity was more moderate in Guadeloupe and Martinique than in the epidemics of the two previous seasons, whereas in Saint Barthélemy, it was three times higher than that observed during the 2018–2019 season. For Saint Martin, this information is not available given that the estimated number of outpatient visits was not extrapolated in 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 (post-Irma). In 2019–2020, the resumption of “normal” activity by general practitioners made it possible to estimate the number of cases seen by private practitioners through the sentinel physician network.

In 2019–2020, the predominant virus was type A/H1N1pdm09 across all territories, with co-circulation of the B/Victoria lineage virus in Martinique and Saint Barthélemy.

In Martinique, the number of visits for flu-like illness handled by SOS Médecins was lower than in the two previous seasons. The trend of this indicator was comparable to the other indicators described previously.

Emergency departments in Guadeloupe recorded 137 visits in 2019–2020, a quarter fewer than in 2018–2019, and 6 hospitalizations, a third fewer than in 2018–2019. In Saint Martin, 5 emergency room visits were recorded in 2019–2020, a decrease of three-quarters compared to 2018–2019, while the number of hospitalizations remained stable. In contrast, the emergency department at the Saint-Barthélemy hospital recorded one-third fewer emergency room visits and one-third fewer hospitalizations than in 2018–2019.

Monitoring of severe cases identified 10 patients, including 3 deaths, in 2019–2020 in Guadeloupe—nearly half the number of cases and deaths compared to 2018–2019 (16 cases, including 7 deaths), while in Martinique the number of severe cases was comparable to that recorded during the 2018–2019 season (14 vs. 13) and the number of deaths was higher (6 vs. 4). In 2019–2020, Saint Martin recorded two severe cases, one of whom died (vs. 0 in the previous season).

Detailed data on surveillance indicators are presented in Table 1 for the 2019–2020 season and in Table 2 for previous seasons (2017–2018 and 2018–2019).