Gastrointestinal and respiratory infections on the rise in Yucatán

Every hour, 21 Yucatecans get a gastrointestinal infection, and another 67 fall victim to acute respiratory infections. According to experts, the most common infections among Yucatecans are intestinal and respiratory illnesses caused by high temperatures and rainy weather, El Diario de Yucatán reported.

MÉRIDA — Until June 24, which is the most recent cut-off date, local health institutions had diagnosed 88,700 cases of intestinal infectious diseases and 283,375 cases of acute respiratory infections, as stated by the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAVE).

In both cases, the figures are higher than last year. For instance, during the same period of 2016, there were 54,958 patients with intestinal infections and 247,984 with respiratory viruses.

However, the 88,700 gastrointestinal infection diagnoses are of a specific classification. Additionally, there are other categories which include 1,051 cases of “other intestinal infections due to protozoa (parasites)”, 9 of “bacterial food poisoning”, and 4,732 of “intestinal amebiasis”.

In regards of acute respiratory infections, it was reported that women are more prone to get these type of diseases; from the 283,375 reported cases, women represented 152,838 of them, while men were just 130,537.

Lastly, SINAVE’s 2017 figures indicated that infections of the respiratory system equal to 1,628 cases every day, or 67 every hour.