Influenza Outbreak Expected: Strong Surge Predicted

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…