Winter has begun, and with it, what could be called “respiratory illness season.” According too Samuel Ponce de León Rosales,academic,researcher at the Faculty of Medicine,and coordinator of the University Program for Research on Epidemiological and Emerging risks (PUIREE) at UNAM,the most frequent illness so far is influenza,followed by Covid-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) infection.
Both influenza and Covid-19 are also caused by viruses that are transmitted through droplets expelled from the nose and mouth when sneezing, coughing, or speaking, or that reach a person’s respiratory tract after they touch a surface where they remained and then touch their face.
“Along with these,the winter environment contains other viruses,enteroviruses and rhinoviruses,which can cause symptoms similar to those triggered by the aforementioned diseases,that is,runny nose,sneezing,body aches,headache,and sometimes sore throat and fever,” notes the academic and researcher.
It should be added that, in the early days, some cases of influenza present slightly more intense symptoms: more or less strong generalized muscle pain, as well as fever, headache, sore throat, and cough.
Ponce de León Rosales believes that the impact of influenza will be especially strong this winter. Actually,it is indeed already happening in the United States,with very high infection rates,the highest seen in more than a decade.
“In contrast, the number of cases of Covid-19 has been relatively low, if compared to what had been recorded on these dates in previous years.Of course,all of this may vary in the coming weeks. And although we still have a long way to go with respiratory diseases, we would expect that, in Mexico, influenza will continue to predominate and that Covid-19 will appear…
