Mega Doctor News
By Dr. Carlos Morales
Two weeks ago, I called my friend Dr. Andres Perez Zuniga, a physician who practices across the border in Reynosa, Tamaulipas to check on him.
He told me that, as expected, the COVID-19 pandemic was very prevalent there. He also noted that in addition to COVID-19 they were also having an epidemic of dengue and Chikungunya.
Dengue and Chikungunya are two febrile illnesses caused by viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. Of the two, dengue can be deadly. 40 years ago, I lost a patient of mine because of it.
Chikungunya is less deadly (1:1000) but is really debilitating (Chikungunya in Swahili means “to be bent over” due to the stooped posture that people adapt because of the pain).
The possibility that a person with COVID could have a combined infection with any of these other two concerned me. Sure enough, my colleague Dr. Francisco Medina sent me today Mexican literature with a report of 4 people infected with “COVIDENGUE” (simultaneous infection of COVID + dengue), one of them a 7-year-old child and a 29-year-old man who died.
In addition to the recognized preventive measures for COVID-19 avoid being superinfected by dengue or Chikungunya by avoiding still residual water from Hannah, using mosquito repellents, and by wearing long sleeve shirts when working outside.
Source: Facebook
