The appearance of the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a change in the lifestyle of the world population. It is not only about infections and deaths but also the habits that are now observed. From the permanent use of face masks to encouraging frequent hand washing. But it has also generated the appearance of other problems such as coronadengue, which is a new coinfection about which very little is still known.
Situation in Mexico
To begin with, at the beginning of the health emergency, there was a warning about the risk of confusing the symptoms of Covid-19 and dengue. At that time, the information was scarce and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) had to publish a guide to distinguish each of the diseases. Among the first manifestations of the two are fever, muscle aches, headache, throat and eyes.
Shortly thereafter, it was reported first case of a person with both pathologies. While on July 31, 2020, the first death of a Mexican who had both infections was confirmed. It was a male patient from Jalisco who was 44 years old and also suffered from diabetes. With this it was observed that it was not a minor situation but that it could cause serious consequences.
Since then, this coinfection has been described as Covidengue or Coronadengue. Both definitions are recognized by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). He also mentions that although there are few documented cases in the world, the countries where they have occurred most are Argentina and Mexico.
Risk of suffering a syndemic
For its part, one of the risks for both nations is to suffer a syndemic. Only in the case of Mexico, during 2019 one of the worst years in terms of dengue was experienced. Based on the records of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), a total of 41,317 cases were registered throughout the national territory, while in the previous period there were 12,706. The figure means an increase of 312 percent.
On the other hand, the rainy season is when cases of this disease caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito tend to increase. Therefore, one of the main indications for health professionals is to keep abreast of clinical guidelines in order to care for patients correctly.
With regard to the general population, the main indication is to avoid self-medication at all costs. In case of resorting to this bad practice, there is a risk of softening any of the infections but not completely eliminating them. It is also counterproductive because the harm is greater than the benefit.