The director of the Diresa de Madre de Dios, Ricardo Tello, reported this Wednesday that, of a total of 15 samples sent to the National Institute of Health (INS) for diagnosis, confirmation of the first positive case of influenza H3n2 was received in the region.
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It is about a 25-year-old man who lives in Iñapari (Mother of God); Furthermore, according to the authorities, it is not ruled out that this contagion has come from the neighboring country of Brazil due to its proximity to the city.
“Currently, the clinical picture of the infected is stable, however, these same symptoms, including; flu, fever, headache, sore throat and muscle have affected many people”, It was reported from the GORE of Madre de Dios.
In addition, he indicated that in the coming days the results of the other samples that were sent to the INS will be known, meanwhile, he recommended the population not to self-medicate and to go to health facilities in a timely manner.
H3n2 in Loreto
A few days ago, the director of Public Health surveillance of the National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control (CDC), César Munayco, reported on the actions being carried out in Loreto, a region where cases of influenza type H3N2 have occurred.
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“We, as the CDC at the national level, are in meetings with epidemiologists to give the necessary indications and in Loreto they are already intervening, Vaccines have been sent (against influenza), antivirals are being sent for the management of patients who require them and they are working on the communicational part”Munayco expressed on Radio Exitosa.
Munayco recalled that like COVID-19, the sector also applies influenza vaccines and their application must be annual. “The influenza vaccine must be administered every year, it is already in the regular program that we have for younger children, but in older adults it is important to also do it against pneumococcus, the ideal is to apply it when there is no symptom.”, He expressed.
The head of the National Institute of Health (INS), Victor Suarez, commented that a sector of the Loreto population still does not use the mask correctly, which is one of the main protective measures against respiratory illnesses. “Possibly, that is contributing to the spread of this influenza”, stressed.
What is H3n2?
The influenza A (H3N2) is a subtype of influenza A (flu virus), and shares several of its symptoms with the COVID-19, whose new Omicron variant expands throughout the country.
In 2014 and 2019, influenza A (H3N2) it had predominance in the circulation in Peru and seems to have been reintroduced from Brazil, the country that registers a significant increase in cases in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization.