The Ministry of Health through the National Department of Epidemiology in its weekly report revealed that 946 cases of influenza or flu syndrome have been registered to date.
Regarding Serious Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI), the report indicated that in the surveillance of respiratory viruses by the Gorgas Commemorative Institute for Health Studies (ICGES), 8 were registered as positive for influenza A (H3N2) and one for influenza. B (Win).
Other respiratory viruses identified were: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (13), Rhinovirus (7), Metapneumovirus (4), Parainfluenza (3), Bocavirus (1), and Adenovirus (2).
In recent weeks, an increase in cases of Bronchiolitis has been observed, a situation that is partly related to increased detection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the health surveillance system.
recommendations
- Maintain close surveillance of changes in the incidence of respiratory infections and notify the presence of outbreaks of these; especially in educational centers, nursing homes, nurseries or other facilities where people with greater vulnerability are concentrated.
- Maintain educational actions on the importance of respiratory hygiene, hand washing, mode of transmission and timely seeking medical attention.
- Guide parents and caregivers to avoid unnecessarily exposing young children to crowded environments.
- Continue educating the community on the importance of applying the vaccine against Influenza, pneumococcus and COVID-19, according to risk criteria.
- Ensure that people with presumptive symptoms of COVID-19 are swabbed and send samples to ICGES to maintain genomic surveillance.
