“We’ve been like this for three weeks,” laments Ramiro Estévez, 39, a laboratory employee. So it means with cough, fever, sore throat, and a long etcetera of symptoms. It started as a stomach ache and a headache for 13-year-old Anabella. It followed with a marathon of sneezes and sore throats in Dolores, Ramiro’s wife, 37. After, Ramiro, who a week ago had been suffering from a gastrointestinal condition, fell with a fever and body aches which lasted several nights. All with a lot of cough. Tadeo, seven years old, had a sore throat and congestion and Rocío, two years old, in addition to cough and runny nose, now has conjunctivitis. “They told us that it is not Covid, that it is viral, that we have to give it time. What virus is he? No idea. They can be several. They told us to arm ourselves with patience because the cough, which is the most annoying thing at this point, it will last several weeks,” says Ramiro.
The story is no exception these days. In fact, in the wards of hospitals and sanatoriums and on the telephones of pediatricians, an increase in the number of consultations of patients, or of entire families, who have been infected for weeks without managing to come out of it, is noted at this time. Some begin with diffuse symptoms that change their characteristics as the virus changes body, until it reaches all the members of the house: starts as a gastrointestinal condition, continues as a respiratory discomfort, then comes the headachefever, cough, body ache, all in one loop that in some cases, repeats and starts once more when it was believed that everyone was already leaving the episode.
Specialists are not alarmed, although they warn that if you are registering a peak of influenza, type A and B, among other tables. In fact, the numbers of the Epidemiological Bulletin of the Ministry of Health speak of an increase of 33% compared to previous years of influenza pictures. “there is still covid and due to the time of year we are studying, the gastrointestinal viruses start”, explains Pablo Bonvehi, Head of Infectious Diseases at CEMIC and member of the Vaccine Commission of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI).
“We are detecting cases of Covid, although in a much smaller number, since there are few cases in which it is tested. Instead, we are warning a significant rise in cases of influenza Awhich began to be noticed last January and now it has returned to mark a growth. And influenza B was added, which in symptomatology is similar. Many of these pictures can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, especially in children. In addition to the traditional cough, sore throat and headache. The general symptoms last a week and the characteristic is that a persistent cough is generated, for a longer time, which can last up to three weeks, because there is increased bronchial hyperresponsiveness, increased bronchoconstriction which may make it necessary to use antitussives”, details Bonvehí.
Allergies are also added, which these days are on the surface and gastrointestinal viruses, very of the time. “Since there is more than one virus circulating, it may be that the same family is infected with several viruses, and that, when it is coming out of one box, it enters another,” he details.
The numbers of the Department of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health indicate that these days there is a peak of cases of influenza type A. In the last week 845,523 cases of influenza were reportedwith a cumulative incidence rate of 1828.8 cases/ 100,000 inhabitantsa peak of cases that had not been recorded since 2016 and 2017. In addition, in the last week, the percentage of positivity for influenza was 31%, while throughout the year it had been 9.6%.
Influenza cases are detected in all age groups, with the highest number of positive samples in the group between 25 and 34 years and 45 to 64 years.
“So far in 2022, it can be seen an unusual behavior both in the seasonality and number of registered cases of influenza as well as in the frequency and distribution of other respiratory viruses (RVO), fundamentally metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza”, indicates the report. According to the statistical report, the increase in positive cases of influenza was recorded during the last four weeks.
“The data from the Ministry of Health speak of an increase in the influenza virus. In the last three weeks just over 30%. This is quite high”, explains the infectologist and pediatrician Eduardo López. “Some of the patients with influenza have had symptoms such as myositis, which is inflammation of the muscles, perceived as severe body paina symptom that is not very frequent in this disease”, he explains.
According to López, a large part of the cases that occur these weeks can be explained by this virus, although Many people do not report their pictures because they initially confuse them with a cold. “It starts as a high fever, cough, discomfort as if it were a great flu picture. However, as the days go by, they discover that the symptoms persist and severe body pain is added, ”he explains. Unlike other flu symptoms, for influenza there is a treatment, which is Oseltamivir, but it must be indicated early, within 48 hours of the first symptoms. This will make your symptoms and viral load milder. “But, in most cases, they are not taking medication, so the contagion is also high. Also, because the person usually does not isolate himself, or only does it for a day or two, ”explains López.
It is also possible that within the cycle of illness-recovery, there are not only relapses, but other high-circulation viruses cross during the arrival of heat, such as adenoviruseswhich can produce respiratory, gastrointestinal symptoms and in the little ones, conjunctivitis, López details.
“We are seeing an increase in the circulation of the influenza virus. It is to be vigilant and not to neglect the measures that we already incorporated with the Covid, such as handwashing and wearing a mask when a person has symptoms”, points out Elena Obieta, infectologist and member of the SADI.
“They are more extended, longer, tiring pictures. That’s what the patients report. It is probable that when a respiratory condition is added to a gastrointestinal one, the physical wear of the patients is high and they are very tired, with the feeling that it is difficult to recover. Because prolonged coughing generates that effect,” says Obieta.
“We can’t rule out that it is Covidalthough an increase in cases is not being registered, it is happening in Europe and in the country the level of the population with the four doses is low, ”warns López.
The important thing, experts point out, is not minimizing symptoms and especially if it is regarding patients who belong to a risk group or who are within the target population of the flu vaccine, consult early. “One more query is better than one lessLopez warns.
Influenza, also known as the flu, and colds are common conditions, so many people tend to confuse the symptoms, warns the website of the Ministry of Health. Influenza is characterized by high fever (38º or more), headache, weakness, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, muscle pain and general malaise. TDigestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may also appear, but these are more common in boys than in adults. The disease has a short incubation period (2-5 days) and is highly contagious from one day before onset to seven days followingward.
