Natalia Vitela/Reform Agency
Saturday, December 24, 2022 | 09:32
Mexico City- In the current winter season, acute respiratory infections have increased by up to 66 percent compared to winter 2021-2022, while cases of pneumonia and bronchopneumonia have increased by 60 percent.
According to epidemiological data from the Ministry of Health, from October to December 14, 3,787,000 cases of respiratory infections and more than 30,000 cases of pneumonia and bronchopneumonia have been reported.
Mauricio Rodríguez, spokesperson for the University Commission for Coronavirus Emergency Care at UNAM, indicated that the cases of acute respiratory infections refer to colds and flu caused, mostly, by viruses such as: rhinovirus, parainfluenza, adenovirus and metapneumovirus.
“They are the regular viruses, of the usual acute respiratory infections,” he explained while detailing that they cause mild sore throat, nasal congestion and headache.
Rodríguez, an academic and researcher at the UNAM School of Medicine, indicated that pneumonia could be caused by pneumococcus, which is a bacterium that is having more activity.
And it is that, according to the expert, the increase in acute respiratory infections and pneumonia is due to the decrease in the prevalence of the Sars CoV-2 virus.
“It has to do with the change in behavior of seasonal viruses. Covid-19 is ceasing to be predominant, and others are entering that have always been there, but in the last two years we had not seen them; they are the usual ones”, the specialist specified.
On the other hand, Gerardo López, head of the Allergy Service of the National Institute of Pediatrics, pointed out that the low temperatures, the high contamination, the predisposition in some people and the lack of vaccination coverage have also contributed to the increase in cases.
