Although Mexico is officially suffering a relatively small number of confirmed Covid-19 cases (2,785 cases and 141 deaths as of April 8 according to Worldometer.info), reports are surfacing that suggest a larger infection rate, another pathogen, or faulty tests or testing procedures.
“Cases of atypical pneumonia are drawing attention in other states,” said a Guadalajara doctor who works in a local IMSS hospital. “For example, an IMSS doctor in Tijuana [Baja California], told me that many cases of atypical pneumonia are being diagnosed there, confirmed by x-rays.
“Some patients with atypical pneumonia have been tested for the new coronavirus, and their tests are coming up negative,” said the doctor, who asked not to be named because IMSS is threatening its doctors if they publish on social media. The negative tests, the doctor said, lead to questions as to whether the tests for Covid-19 are good quality or are being correctly administered.
Alternately, the illnesses could be caused by another microbe, many of which do their dirty deeds in a typical flu season. In addition, the cases of atypical pneumonia may have been noticed because of hyper-vigilance during the current coronavirus crisis.
The reports about “neumonía atipíca,” which have appeared in various publications since January, are informal, and have been voiced by morticians, doctors and others. On April 6, journalist Adela Navarro Bello publicized a document from the Hospital General de Tijuana listing, she stated, 25 patients with atypical pneumonia, only three of whom were diagnosed with Covid-19. (The document shows four Covid-19 patients.) The list included two doctors, she added.
But despite the informality of the atypical pneumonia reports, they have reached the highest levels nationally, provoking a denial from the federal sub-secretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, who at the end of March said, “The signs from the National Epidemiological Surveillance System consistently show that the idea that there is an excess of atypical pneumonia is false and that they do not accord with the behavior of Covid-19.”
Some have reacted by charging that the federal government is attempting to hide Covid-19 cases to reduce panic.