In a dialogue with the Tiempo de Radio cycle, the Minister of Health of the City of Azul, Dr. Martin Maraschio, referred to the concerns of health authorities around the world today over the outbreak of bird flu. In turn, he also spoke about the impact of the respiratory illness on Azuleños so far in the winter of 2023.
At the beginning of the presentation, the professional recalled that a few months earlier there had been cases of avian influenza in wild and domestic poultry in several Argentine provinces (Azul had a case): “We are preparing so that if new Cases, outbreaks will only occur in that type of bird. Fortunately, we have no human transmission here, and the peculiarity of this outbreak is that in many cases there is bird flu, which is why we are skeptical attitude, because in general, the transmission is between birds and humans, but there is no human-to-human transmission, which is a bit more worrying for us. Because they are highly contagious diseases, certain patients are at risk.”
“But obviously these high-risk groups, and humans in general, are much more protected because there is no human-to-human transmission. The World Health Organization issued the alarm because there was transmission in mammals such as cats in Europe. Despite this, no cases have been registered in humans, and now we have Looking forward to it. So we can’t rest on our laurels because everything can change from one day to the next because the flu virus is a virus that mutates every year and that’s why every year there is a vaccination It’s not that different from avian flu, and it’s all from the same family.”
At this point, analyzing the information that Argentina has processed behind closed doors, Maraschio said: “We are on semi-standby and the biggest problem at the moment is the producers, because if there is contagion, they will have to do massive containment.” Slaughter Animals of course this has economic costs but we have to be vigilant as there could be major outbreaks in our country peacefully from infection from birds to humans and we can never be 100% sure and there is also the possibility of human to human transmission will increase. What happens is there, and we have to be vigilant.”
flu cases wear blue
In another part of the presentation, city officials were asked about the large increase in flu cases recorded in the city in recent weeks and the impact on the health system.
“There was a flu outbreak a month ago, and the bed occupancy and other impacts in children’s hospitals were much greater than in adult hospitals. We saw this because there was a 25% increase in consultations per guard, and this The increase was due to cases of a flu-like illness that was reported,” he explained.
In this sense, he stated that when the numbers are analyzed, all respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, cold, runny nose can be inferred: “It is reported to be a flu-like illness, like the flu.” Influenza is not a common cold, flu is an acute viral symptom with symptoms very similar to Covid-19, and if the patient is predisposed to lung disease, the condition usually worsens with increased bronchospasm, many people coughing, producing a lot of mucus, and Possibility of colonization by bacterial infection”.
“We’ve had a slight increase in case numbers just this weekend, unlike what we’ve seen before, but there has been an increase in consultations with emergency services,” he added.
Finally, the director of the Pintos Hospital clarified that in severe cases swabs are taken to test for Covid-19, emphasizing: “When there are cases that require hospitalization due to pictures, there are coronavirus reagents available” ” Respiratory infections have to be used when resources are available. We had no cases in Azul, but a less severe case was reported last week in Chilar.”