SSA: The number of Yucatecans with respiratory diseases increased by 33%, compared to October 2023
Yucatán reported its first death from influenza of the 2024-2025 Seasonal Influenza Season, which has only been going on for three weeks, and remains the state with the most sick people, with 65 confirmed cases in 21 days, reports the Ministry of Health of Mexico (SSA).
Another death from influenza in Yucatán in just five weeks
Thus, two Yucatecans died from influenza in just five weeks. The first died during the Interseasonal Influenza Season, specifically in week 38 (September 12-21) of 2024.
Both Yucatecans died from the influenza A(H3N2) virus, which was first detected in pigs in 2010 and for the first time in humans in July 2011, both in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of that country.
In its report, the CDC explains that the influenza A viruses that circulate among pigs are different from the seasonal flu viruses A(H1N1) and A(H3N2), which are the ones that spread among humans, and, therefore, it is possible that people do not have a natural defense against these porcine viruses and the vaccines may not be effective either.
However, he clarifies that although an infected pig can infect a person (usually a pig farmer, a farm worker, or a visitor at a fair) by coughing or sneezing, it is uncommon for that person to then infect another human with the swine virus, meaning that pig-human-human transmission is rare.
Two deaths from seasonal influenza in Mexico
For its part, the SSA reports that when the Seasonal Influenza Season has only been going on for three weeks in Mexico, the first two deaths from influenza occurred: one in Yucatan, from the A(H3N2) virus, and one in Guerrero, from the A(H1N1), both in week 42 (from October 13 to 19) of 2024.
Nationally, there are 206 confirmed cases in the Seasonal Influenza Season: nine occurred in the first week (week 40 of 2024), 104 in the second, and 102 in the third. On average, there are nine or 10 sick people per day.
Older adults and people in their twenties are at higher risk now
In addition, the SSA highlights that people who tested positive for influenza belong to five age groups: those over 65 years old (12.6%), children from 5 to 9 years old, people from 25 to 29 years old, from 30 to 34 years old (10.7%) and young people from 20 to 24 years old (9.7%).
So far in the 2024-2025 season, the SSA indicates that the A(H3N2) virus predominates, present in 150 confirmed cases (72.8%). It is followed by the A(H1N1), with 33 patients (16%), influenza B, with 14 cases (6.8%), and other A viruses (such as AH1 and non-subtypeable A), with nine patients (4.4%).
Influenza in the Yucatan Peninsula
Likewise, the SSA reports that for the second consecutive week, Yucatan remains the leader in influenza cases, with 65 confirmed cases in the first three weeks of the seasonal flu season, that is, three cases are confirmed by laboratory tests on average every day.
For its part, Campeche rose from third to second place nationally, as confirmed cases rose from 12 to 34, and, in a reversal, Veracruz fell to third place, going from 13 to 25 confirmed cases.
In this way, the Yucatan Peninsula is the largest red zone of influenza, with a total of 104 accumulated cases: 65 from Yucatan, 34 from Campeche, and five from Quintana Roo. In the third week of the seasonal season alone, 51 cases were confirmed, that is, seven each day.
For the seasonal season, the SSA began to break down the cases in the second week: Yucatán had 37, Campeche, 12, and Quintana Roo, four.
State campaigns to prevent influenza
Given this health situation, the Yucatán Ministry of Health began this October the annual campaign to vaccinate against influenza free of charge to risk groups: children from six months to 5 years of age, adults 60 years of age or older, pregnant women, and people from 5 to 59 years of age with comorbidities, such as diabetes.
