With the low temperatures typical of this season, cases of influenza tend to increase, a behavior that did not occur during the pandemic, but This year there is an increase. The Ministry of Health does not reflect a significant upturn in its reports, but doctors in the private sector see an increase in pediatric patients when the most critical weeks of virus circulation are yet to come.
On November 7, the health authorities issued an alert to warn the population and health services about the increase that may occur. This is a highly contagious respiratory diseaseand affects the nose, throat, bronchi and lungs, in the most severe cases.
From 2019 to November 2 of this year, the Public Health System registers 4,461 cases, yeThe most affected group are children from two months to 4 yearsin which 35.2% of the patients are concentrated, according to the official report.
Six out of 10 of the cases occurred in 2019, and with the covid-19 pandemic, a decrease in the figures began to be noticed, since during the first year the attention was reduced by half. In 2021 the report is only 71 cases, and this year as of November 12 there are 198.
But the numbers do not show the impact that the disease is having today. According to pediatric infectologist Alicia Chang, president of the Guatemalan Association of Infectious Diseases (AGEI), since last October in the health services there are more cases of children consulting for respiratory problems caused by the virus. “We weren’t seeing a lot of virus activity in the previous two years, but this year we are,” he says.
The doctor Alejandro De León Marsicovetere, a pediatrician specializing in respiratory diseases, mentions that in the last two weeks he has seen between four and five cases of children with influenza a day, a rebound that was not seen in five years ago, which happens from time to time by the strain that circulates, but it can also happen that patients who were infected by covid-19 have altered immune systems and are susceptible to the intensity of this virus.
Surveillance
The influenza virus is present throughout the year in Guatemala, says the doctor Antonio Paredes, coordinator of epidemiological surveillance of the Ministry of Health. This year an increase in cases is reported compared to the years 2020 and 2021, but it is “moderate”. It is not ruled out that from December to February the behavior is upward.
The lack of tests that diagnose the disease is one of the reasons for the low numbers in the Public Health System, since a specific PCR test for influenza must be carried out to detect it, the cost is high and it is in the private sector and in hospitals like Roosevelt and General San Juan de Dios that could process him. The virus is not detected through covid-19 tests.
According to Paredes, with the pandemic the National Health Laboratory stopped processing tests that were not coronavirus, it is until this year that epidemiological surveillance of other respiratory viruses will be resumed.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,598 | 1,594 | 71 | 198 | 4,461 |
The sentinel hospitals where the influenza test is carried out on patients are the General San Juan de Dios Hospital, the Infectology and Rehabilitation Children’s Hospital, the Nacional de Cobán, in Alta Verapaz, and the Nacional de San Marcos, the results allow us to establish the behavior of the virus in the country.
On alert
Health issued the preventive alert for influenza in the first week of November, and Chang reports that hospitals may become congested with the pediatric population in these months, as the services are already loaded with patients with respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza and now influenceBecause of the latter, the stay in hospitals can be several days, and if patients with other conditions arrive, care would be complicated.
“Any seasonal virus, which increases the incidence of respiratory cases that need hospitalization, can destabilize the system,” says the pediatric infectologist, and that unlike covid-19, which causes more complications in adults, influenza increases the number of hospitalizations in the pediatric population and in the elderly.
According to the epidemiological alert from the Ministry of Health, influenza is easily transmitted from one person to another. Having set aside the use of the mask, distancing and hand washing can influence a peak in cases, not only of this condition but of other respiratory viruses.
It mainly affects children under five years of age, the elderly, pregnant women and health service workers. The symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, muscle and headache, runny nose, tiredness, in some cases there may be vomiting and diarrhea.
getting vaccinated is important
Influenza season is between October and February, and the illness can lead to hospitalization by causing severe pneumonia. Chang advises getting vaccinated to protect against serious disease.
Read more: Basic vaccination scheme has been two years behind, and this could be the third
Because the virus has a high capacity to modify itself, every year the vaccine is updated, which is why people should be inoculated every yearand the countries have access to the biological as of September, prior to the virus circulation season.
In public health services, 400,000 influenza vaccines are available for the pediatric population and 500,000 for adults.which will be applied to the vulnerable population, which are boys and girls between 6 and 35 months of age, people with chronic diseases, pregnant women, adults over 60 years of age, health personnel and first responders.
Will they be enough to cover the population? According to the National Institute of Statistics, last year the number of children between 0-4 years old was 1,881,462, so availability is low.
Those who have resources have the option of getting the vaccine in the private sector, ranging from Q200 in some places.
As in the rest of the countries, In Guatemala, covid-19 has not stopped circulating, now the influenza virus is added, and coinfection can be a serious health problem.
Also read: Persistent covid or long covid in children worries the medical community
The coronavirus is a highly inflammatory respiratory disease, and the lungs can be affected.
“Having one infection after another is under no circumstances a good scenario… it will all depend on how much inflammation and fibrosis the covid caused in the lungs,” Chang says.
Although the damage to the lungs will sometimes not be evident until the person contracts the influenza virus, from that account it is better to prevent and get vaccinated, even more so if you have been infected with coronavirus in the last six months.
*With information Andrea Domínguez
