Denmark is in the midst of a ‘very unusual’ flu outbreak. A music festival is the culprit

Denmark is experiencing an abnormally large flu outbreak that appears to be linked to a music festival.

There were 115 influenza cases reported between August 11 and August 17, up from 19 cases the week before, according to Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut (SSI).

The agency has been tracking influenza cases year-round for 15 years, and said this is the first time it has identified a major flu outbreak in August.

The timing “is very unusual,” Ramona Trebbien, an SSI section manager, said in a statement.

In Denmark, the flu typically causes more infections in the winter months, when people are grouped together indoors and there are more opportunities for the virus to spread.

The outbreak appears to be linked to Smukfest, a music festival that took place earlier this month in the city of Skanderborg. The festival attracted nearly 60,000 attendees over one week.

The sickened festival-goers all had identical forms of influenza A H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, while other people’s infections had a different source, according to SSI.

“Everything points to the outbreak being linked to Smukfest,” Trebbien said.

Most people who get the flu will recover after a week or so. But young children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with chronic diseases are at higher risk of serious complications.

The number of new cases has slowed over the past week, according to SSI.

The agency said people should still feel free to attend festivals – but that the “Smukfest episode” underscores that large events can “act as super-spreading events if the circumstances are right”.