High contagiousness levels of the Delta strain could affect the youngest

Its high transmissibility affects anyone who is not vaccinated, experts say

MÉRIDA, Yucatán, (August 07, 2021) .- With the case of the 15-year – old girl from Maxcanú, reported as deceased this Friday and who had a history of malnutrition, Yucatán now registers 13 deaths from coronavirus in minors.

The National Comprehensive System for Girls, Boys and Adolescents (Sipinna) had reported that Yucatan had 12 deaths, to which would be added the one reported this Friday, August 6 by the state Health Secretariat.

Of the 13 deceased minors, six were between 0 and 5 years old, and the rest were between 12 and 17 years old.

Among the municipalities in which the deaths of children and adolescents occurred are Maxcanú, Ticul, Mérida, Valladolid, Chankom, Dzilam González, Quintana Roo and Tixmehuac.

Delta variant more aggressive with minors

As reported by ‘ The New York Times ‘ this Wednesday, August4th, a group of American doctors have observed that the Delta variant of coronavirus is more aggressive towards younger people.

In Springfield, Missouri, Terrence Coulter, the director of intensive care for CoxHealth, a 500-bed hospital, said Covid patients arriving at the hospital are younger and sicker than in the previous wave.

“During the first infections it was thought that young patients and children would not get it and would not even know they had it, or that they would have a mild illness, With the Delta variant, it is not like that. It is much more severe than the original variant, no doubt about it” Coulter said.

Many hospitalized patients have underlying health conditions like diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure that are risk factors for developing serious complications, he said. But some younger patients don’t have any of those risk factors.

“That’s what really scares me,” he said. “It’s affecting younger, healthier people who you don’t think have such a bad response to disease.” They often face lengthy recoveries, Coulter added, and some will have lasting lung damage.

While other specialists are of the opinion that what appears to be greater virulence may simply be the result of the greater contagion of the Delta variant. 

As more people become infected, the number of seriously ill people is likely to increase, even if the variant does not cause more serious complications than previous versions of the virus.

“I have not seen evidence that Delta is selectively targeting children, adolescents and young adults,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. 

“My impression has been that this virus is so highly transmissible that anyone who is not vaccinated can get infected, and that includes young people, ” he concluded.

Source: Sipse