Independent doctors from various departments of Nicaragua report that in recent weeks they have treated patients with flu-like symptoms, which could be related to the omicron variant. Most of these are citizens who arrived in the country during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“80% of the cases that I have attended since December 25, 2021, are in the United States or have come from there. The cases that have not left the country have been in contact with people who have come from abroad. However, colleagues from hospitals and pension clinics mention that in the last week they have seen an increase in the demand for health services; but they are classifying them as flu-like processes”, points out a private doctor.
Another doctor reports that last week they had four people admitted to the Vivian Pellas Hospital, all in moderate condition and vaccinated. As described, “The contagion was brought to the family by a visitor from abroad. In a few days the whole family was infected”. These patients were already discharged over the weekend.
One of the health sources indicates that cases suspected of presenting more severe conditions are hospitalized, but not so severe that they require intubation. What has been observed is that the infection affects the entire family, presenting with catarrhal-type symptoms: a little chest pain, body aches, feeling of exhaustion and in the least cases, fever.
The incubation period—three to four days—and the illness period are shorter. “Definitely fewer severe cases” are being seen, which does not mean that some people can get complicated, warns the source.
Cases in the departments
Another doctor from Managua explains that At the Vélez Páiz Hospital there are two cases of covid-19. These patients have evolved favorably and quickly. This behavior could be attributed to the new variant, which according to scientific studies is less aggressive than the other strains in vaccinated people, therefore there are fewer hospitalized patients.
A doctor from León reports that, in this department, there are several complete families with covid-19. There are people who even have reinforcement and are highly vulnerable. However, there is no confirmation if these cases are from the variants that are already circulating or from the new strain.
Likewise, the source explains that there are few cases of hospitalized patients and that At the Óscar Danilo Rosales Hospital School (Heodra) until the middle of last week there was only one person admitted.
In Estelí, the situation is similar. Sources close to the San Juan De Dios Regional Hospital comment that there are no people hospitalized, but they have received a few patients with covid-19, They stay under observation for a few hours and then are discharged. Likewise, there is a slight increase in patients with respiratory symptoms, similar to the flu.
In Madriz there has also been a slight increase in people with flu symptoms. “What is true is that flu states have increased and ómicron is presented that way. The disadvantage we have is that we still do not have access to tests or screenings. Hospitalizations have decreased and that gives a false stability to the citizenry that has lowered its guard. And that with ómican could be serious”, says one of the sources.
Omicron in Central America
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) confirmed last week that Nicaragua has generated a genomic surveillance system that has allowed it to demonstrate the circulation of variants, both of interest and of concern, therefore it has the ability to identify the omicron variant. However, at the national level, the authorities of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) have made little or no effort to inform the population of the situation of the variants.
From Central America, four countries have already confirmed the circulation of omicron: Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Honduras. The latter country confirmed last Friday that this strain is the most predominant. “Ómicron has displaced delta, which was more predominant until the second week of December 2021,” explained the Ministry of Health of this country.
Studies on omicron show that this strain is more contagious than the original virus and the other four variants; but, it is less serious. But nevertheless, PAHO recommends not underestimating contagion because ómicron has shown a great capacity to evade the immunological protection created by vaccines and by previous SAR-CoV-2 infection.
