Ricardo Stanley Vega Barrientos, head of the clinical inpatient service of the “Ismael Cosío Villegas” of the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) of the Ministry of Health, provided the details.
He said that the pneumococcal vaccine is safe and effective in preventing disease, so girls and boys should be vaccinated at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months, with booster vaccination between 12 and 15 months; patients aged 5 to 59 years old People with chronic medical conditions and the elderly must be vaccinated every five years.
He stressed that the pneumococcal vaccine is free in all medical units of the health sector and is part of the national vaccination program.
Pneumonia cases occur primarily in the elderly, children under five, people with chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, heart disease, liver, kidney or heart problems, or people with weakened immune systems.
He explained that children under the age of five are more susceptible to pneumonia due to their immature immune systems, while older adults experience physiological changes that affect innate and adaptive immunity due to aging.
Experts are convinced that pneumococci are spread from person to person through aerosols in the environment around infected people. It can lodge in the throat and nose, and from there spread to the respiratory system.
He noted that pneumonia can also develop as a result of complications from Covid-19 or influenza, with some patients requiring mechanical ventilation, intensive treatment and respiratory support.
INER treats approximately 900 cases per year, but during the pandemic, 1,600 patients are being treated for Covid-19 pneumonia each year.
The treatment of bacterial pneumonia is mainly antibiotics; however, if it is a complication caused by influenza, it should be treated with antiviral drugs. In some cases, it is necessary to provide supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilation.
Data from the National Institute of Public Health show that there were 127,000 new confirmed cases of pneumonia in Mexico in 2021. This occurred in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, but was not entirely due to the health emergency.
According to the World Health Organization, pneumonia is an acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs.
Oudh/Rama