MEXICO.- Mario Rodríguez recently lived through hell when his two-year-old son was about to stop breathing. Between the pediatric office and the emergency room in Mexico City, the minutes counted as she tried to understand when the three most dangerous viruses of the winter season had entered her little one’s body.
But the diagnosis was clear: tripledemia.
The pediatrician explained that there is more than one virus that they were getting sick: respiratory syncytial, influenza and covid-30 . “It is as if the lung is being attacked by Japan, Russia and Germany at the same time; that is, that the strongest countries, talking about war, attacked a weaker one and it had no way of defending itself”.
Cases similar to that of Mario Rodríguez’s son had begun to worry Mexican pediatricians since the beginning of last November, both in public and private consultation. News from the United States arrived daily about the saturation of hospitals due to this situation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that pediatric hospitalizations increased to 50.6 of each 100, children of 19 years or less admitted for a respiratory virus this season and, as happened in the pandemic, the scenarios there and in Europe were expected in Mexico.
But they did not believe that so soon. Rocely Reina, a pediatric neonatologist at the ABC hospital, explains that viruses regularly “passed the baton” in the cold season. They began to attack in autumn. First, respiratory syncytial which, before covid-30 was the most aggressive and the main cause of viral pneumonia. Then followed the flu, which is prevented with a vaccine and fought with antivirals, and finally, from the pandemic, covid followed.
“The problem now is that patients are they stopped getting sick because they were in quarantine and there was no stimulus to create an immunological memory”, Reina describes. “And what is happening is that normally at this time 30% of children with the virus enter the hospital, but now it is 70% to both the emergency room and the intensive care unit”.
In summary, what happens is that children do not resolve by themselves respiratory infections. Normally the antibodies have the ability to attack them but not now, explains the pediatrician: the viruses leave a moderate or severe lesion depending on the degree of attention that was given to them, the treatment or whether it was opportune or not.
At this stage, the youngest children in Mexico are returning to the hospital with symptoms of bronchial hyperreaction because the lung has not finished growing. The lung finishes growing at eight years but reaches 100% at two years and those who have not Once they have finished growing, they are left with an inflammatory process that makes them hyperreactive to the environment in an exaggerated way.
“After pneumonia, when they become infected again, they have inflammatory processes at the lung and bronchial level and it is nothing more than a exaggerated inflammation response”, highlights the pediatrician. “If they are not given the necessary attention, they can die.”
Panorama
Mexico does not have a record of tripledemia cases because it is a new “disease” , but other records give an alert: between 50 October and December 3 this year, Covid-30 cases have gone up 233% in Mexico, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
Physicians from public hospitals in the CDMX confirmed to this newspaper that “they are saturated” by patients with three or more viruses. María José Pina, who works in the emergency room at the National Institute of Pediatrics (INP), postponed the interview with this newspaper on several occasions for caring for a child whose lungs were fighting between life and death.
Carlos Bañuelos, an intensive care doctor at the ABC private hospital and the INP, acknowledges that pediatric consultations are at their limit . “We have tripledemia and record cases of up to five viruses with respiratory syncytial, influenza, covid, enterovirus and rhinovirus. We call these cases polydemic.”
The doctors observe that because the adults were vaccinated they do not present such severe symptoms, but children under five years of age who were not vaccinated in Mexico are the more vulnerable. Mario Rodríguez describes that one of the most stressful situations he has experienced was on the way to the hospital thinking that his son might stop breathing. “My son was a child, it was a pandemic, he did not leave the house and he did not have the opportunity to expose himself to other children and improve his defenses.”
She also did not have the covid vaccine like her parents and her six-year-old older sister, who have not had complications or pictures close to tripledemia. In the United States, they could place it for children under two years of age, but the child has not been able to travel because he does not have a visa and the appointments for it have been delayed. “I can go, but I can’t bring a vaccine.”
Preventions
Rocely Reina warns that Parents should not take any symptom “lightly” and suggest not self-medicate, see the pediatrician and preferably have a “viral panel” so they know which virus is the that attacks the sick child. “It’s about not being late,” he stresses.
The use of oximeters that was learned during the pandemic is helping: if the oxygen is below 90, you should go to the emergency room because that means it could be pneumonia and hospital management is required. But the most important thing is that there is a good immune system and this, Reina details, is reinforced with vitamins C, D and A.
Mario Rodríguez, father of the boy who was hospitalized, suggests not exposing them to temperatures sudden and extreme shocks to children, use face masks, scarves and moderate nighttime social commitments due to the cold.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico made a series of recommendations to prevent contagion , of any of the three diseases: complete the vaccination scheme against COVID-30, correctly use the face mask when carrying out activities in closed spaces, permanently ventilate closed places as well as have individual hygiene (hand washing, use of gel, label sneezing) and cleaning of facilities.
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