Two baby deaths lift influenza toll to 24

The deaths of two babies from influenza in the Children’s Hospital one just a month old and the other one year have raised deaths from the virus to 24.

The minors belong to the provinces of Darién and Bocas del Toro, but, both lost their lives while they were hospitalized reported Melva Cruz, national director of Health of the Minsa.

Preliminarily it is presumed that the relatives of the infants have not received the vaccines to prevent the disease.

The influenza virus experiences two spikes: May to July and then October to November.

In the first peak, the cases drop but do not disappear, reported  Gladys Guerrero, head of the Health Intelligence Unit of the Social Security Fund (CSS) , while clarifying that currently, the  AH1N1 virus is the one that is producing the highest number of hospitalizations and has caused the majority of deaths in the country.

Guerrero recalled that in the influenza epidemic that occurred in 2016, the percentage of those affected were under 5 years of age and people between 60 and 70 years of age; but now with AH1N1, most of the cases are concentrated in groups of productive age.