Respiratory virus cases have increased across the country in recent weeks. According to the latest National Epidemiological Bulletin, an increase in the transmission of influenza viruses, including Influenza A. In the region The curve moves in the same direction and demand doubled in the guards.
Enrique Raimondo, Roca infectology specialist, confirmed that there is a very significant increase in the number of flu cases. “Let’s keep in mind that the flu is a viral disease that is generally typical of winter. Winter has not yet started and we are already in the presence of an outbreak, for me it is an epidemic outbreak, “Although we still do not have official information from public health authorities, what we perceive is a very significant increase in flu cases and that for us, by definition, is an epidemic.”
Raimondo assured on CNN Radio Roca that Consultations have increased and services are saturated. “We once again had a similar scenario, I’m not saying just as clearly, similar to what happened at the beginning of the pandemic. That is to say, on-call services full of people, with many delays, because obviously there is not enough.”
“I would ask that those people who do not have urgency to consult, wait or look for a scheduled appointment and don’t go on guard. “It can happen that a patient comes to consult for a problem, to say something traumatological, an on-call, because I consider it to be an emergency, and later comes out with the flu from inside.”
Chinstrap
Illustrative image
The Roquense infectologist, encouraged the use of face masks in crowded places. “We do not know how long this outbreak will last, but at this particular moment I would advise that all those people and especially people who have risk factors, who go to places where they may be for a long time and where there may be many people go with a mask.”
Raimondo asked that those who have symptoms also use it in common places. “They have to be aware that they can infect third parties, these people also have to wear a mask, even if they feel they are in a position to roam.”
He highlighted that the symptoms It can be a condition with high fever, with many body aches and headaches, with great weakness and cough.
Vaccines, a key factor in the increase in Flu A cases
In reference to the flu vaccinethe doctor specializing in infectious diseases assured that “people have been vaccinated little and possibly that explains what is happening. It seems to me that After the pandemic there was a relaxation in every sense and one of the problems that caused this relaxation is that people stopped getting vaccinated, among other things, against the flu, and I think that is a serious mistake“.
He also recalled that the flu is a potentially serious illness which has significant mortality, especially in people who have risk factors: obese people, people with diabetes, people with heart disease, kidney disease, people who have low immunity, the immunosuppressed and pregnant people.
“All these people have a formal indication to get vaccinated in the fall, before the flu settles in the area,” Raimondo remarked.
He also highlighted that “last year’s vaccines are not useful for this yearthat is why you have to get vaccinated every year, because the flu virus has a very particular characteristic and that is that it mutates year after year, that is, it changes its shape, its molecular structure, so the antibodies, that is, the system that was prepared with the vaccine the previous year.
