A Merida doctor dismissed as media hype the concept of a new disease, “covidengue.”
While a patient could have COVID-19 and dengue simultaneously, the two illnesses have not merged into one virus, said Paulo Flores Salazar, director of the ISSSTE General Hospital in Yucatan.
“The risk starts from the diagnosis, since coronavirus and dengue present similar symptoms,” Flores Salazar told a local reporter, explaining that both illnesses cause lung inflammation.
Symptoms of both also include shortness of breath, fever, fatigue, chest pain and cough.
“A patient with COVID-19 can have serious complications if he gets dengue,” the doctor said.
No coronavirus patients in Yucatan have such dual infections, he said, although another report indicates a patient in Campeche died after battling both illnesses.
