Influenza cases increase in Mexico and add to the wave of covid infections

People in an influenza vaccination center in Toluca, State of Mexico, Crisanta Espinosa (CUARTOSCURO)

In the midst of the escalation of coronavirus infections, influenza cases have increased in Mexico during the 2021-2022 season compared to the same period last year.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Health from October 2021 to the first week of this year, 1,261 patients with influenza and 22 deaths from this disease have been counted, while in the same period of the 2020-2021 season only registered seven infections and one death due to respiratory disease.

According to the weekly report prepared by the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health, of this thousand the majority of influenza patients are between 20 and 29 years of age with 31% of cases and the occurrence in women predominates with 54% of patients. The states where the majority of influenza infections have been detected have been Quintana Roo (219), Yucatán (192), Nuevo León (186), Tabasco (102) and Sonora (69). According to the criteria of the health authorities, each year the influenza season runs from October to May of each year.

The doctor and professor at the University of Guanajuato, Alejandro Macías, explains that the symptoms of the coronavirus caused by the omicron variant and influenza are so similar that it is very difficult to differentiate just by the patient's signs from one to the other, the only way to differentiating them is through a PCR test. "Now that this problem of the entry of the omicron variant began, cases of influenza had been diagnosed in different parts of the country, which was a different situation from what occurred last year because last year there was practically no influenza and this year yes influenza is circulating, but it is very difficult to know how much of what we are seeing is influenza or is covid, "he says.

Influenza is a disease with a behavior similar to that of the coronavirus in the early stages of the outbreak, although much less lethal. The main route of infection is contact with another infected person, although it can also be contracted by touching surfaces previously contaminated by drops of saliva from a sick person, according to the Mexican Institute of Social Security. The most common symptoms are fevers that can exceed 38 degrees, cough and migraines, which can be accompanied by congestion and pain of various kinds.

Macías points out that in the 2020-2021 influenza season the reported cases of influenza were minimal due to the preponderance of the coronavirus. "This year the intensity of the delta variant had already decreased and I believe that it allowed the entry of influenza, but the omicron variant is entering with such force that I also believe that the incidence of influenza will decrease," he predicts.

Regarding the three cases reported in Mexico - two patients in Jalisco and one in Nayarit - with both diseases, covid and influenza, the specialist refers that it is a perfectly feasible condition that they occur together. Since before the arrival of covid-19, there were already cases of patients with other coronaviruses with influenza. "More than particular cases, what would be more worrying is that the two diseases come together and that implies an overload for hospitals with patients with a virus and patients with another disease," he adds.

The specialist admits that the lack of supply of PCR tests in the country will prevent knowing how many of those cases were influenza or coronavirus. Mexico is one of the countries that, since the beginning of the pandemic, has carried out the fewest tests. In the midst of a record of cases due to the omicron variant, the health authorities have once again emphasized this beginning of the year on isolation from the onset of symptoms, without the need for tests, and have denounced "commercial opportunism" around tests.

Mauricio Rodríguez, spokesman for the University Commission for the Attention of the Coronavirus Emergency, UNAM, agrees that the minimal cases of influenza both in the country and globally last year were caused by the pandemic, however, in the last quarter With the fall in contagions of covid-19, this virus made its way again, so it is expected that the incidence figures will rise, but not in the proportions of the thousands of cases that have been observed with the coronavirus. The expert points out that it is impossible to have a sufficient supply of tests for the entire population due to the demand for tests in the world and before this he recommends prioritizing patients with symptoms and those with risk factors.

Last November, the López Obrador government gave the starting signal to the influenza vaccination campaign, the goal of which was to apply 32 million doses in five months.

At the start of the vaccination campaign, the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, spoke of a very low incidence of the disease in the country due to the measures taken to curb the coronavirus virus.

The optimism of that time now collides with the figures that report a score of deaths and little more than a thousand infected.

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