Vaccination of children in Clinics. Photo courtesy.
The Ministry of Public Health announced the arrival of a batch of vaccines against influenza in the country by the end of March, in order to start immunization at the beginning of the following month.
In an interview with the GEN channel, the director of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI), Hector Castro, announced that Paraguay will apply the vaccine for the first time quadrivalent against influenza, that is, they protect against four types of influenza; They are safer and more effective. Until last year, the public sector only received bivalent doses.
The arrival of the 1,500,000 doses is scheduled for the month of March and is expected to start immunization of the population at the beginning of April.
Read more: Health urges to complete vaccination scheme for children
According to PAHO/WHO, influenza is a viral infection that mainly affects the nose, throat, bronchial tubes, and occasionally the lungs. The infection generally lasts for a week and is characterized by the sudden onset of high fever, muscle aches, headache, general malaise, dry cough, sore throat, and rhinitis.
The virus will transmit easily from one person to another through droplets and small particles expelled by coughing or sneezing.
Most of those affected recover in one to two weeks without the need for medical treatment. However, in young children, the elderly, and people with other serious medical conditionsinfection can lead to serious complications of the underlying disease, pneumonia, myocarditis, or death.
It can affect anyone of any age group, however, there are higher risk groups developing severe forms of the disease or complications, such as pregnant women, children under 3 years of age, the elderly, and patients with chronic diseases (cardiac, pulmonary, renal, metabolic, neurodevelopmental, hepatic, or hematological) or immunosuppressed (by HIV / AIDS, chemotherapy, corticosteroids or malignant neoplasms).
In Paraguay, the period of greatest disease burden is second week of May to the third week of Septemberwith activity peak in July.
The incubation period (time between infection and disease onset) is about 2 days, but ranges from 1 to 4 days. Then the first appear symptoms: high fever, muscle aches, headache, malaise, dry cough, sore throat and rhinitis.
Although many people tend to underestimate influenza, it is important to know that the disease It can be mild, severe, or even fatal. Hospitalization and death are more frequent in high-risk groups, which is why prevention measures should be intensified and the vaccine applied if it belongs to risk groups.
