Bengaluru’s viral wake-up call urges people to remain alert

Rithu Dravid | NT

Bengaluru: An abrupt shift in weather conditions has triggered a wave of communicable viral diseases in the city.

Experts attribute this to unpredictable combination of intermittent rainfall and fluctuating day temperatures with H1N1 and dengue figuring prominently among the illnesses.

A significant portion of Bengaluru's population has fallen victim to these meteorological fluctuations, enduring symptoms such as extreme high fever, cough, and cold for a minimum of a week.

Among the hardest-hit segments are children, whose interactions in schools and colleges make them particularly vulnerable. Doctors in the city urge the public not to self-medicate but to consult doctors immediately.

“There is an increase in H1N1 flu cases, apart from the tremendous footfalls in the number of dengue cases. Certain flu fever cases do require hospital admission while most are treated as outpatients. The hospital sees around 25 to 30 cases of both H1N1 and dengue cases in children and older people. As of now we have 10 to 15 percent of such severe dengue cases at the hospital”, says Dr Sumayya Khurshid, General Physician, St. Philomenas Hospital, Bengaluru.

Doctors say the clinical presentation in both dengue and H1N1 patients is extreme high temperature and excessive tiredness which cannot be treated with regular medication.

Doctors say dengue cases have to be monitored regularly as patients can go into a dengue shock with low platelet counts. Such cases need conservative management or symptomatic treatment at the hospital which requires platelet transfusion with a lot of IV fluids.

The state health department is taking proactive measures by requesting reports from all districts, aiming to gauge the extent of the viral fever outbreak and identify necessary precautions to safeguard public health.

Health officials are leaving no stone unturned as they have put all District Health Officers (DHOs) on high alert in response to the escalating cases of viral fever.

To curb the spread of these illnesses, the health department has urged commuters using public transport and with cough or fever to wear face masks to prevent transmission, while those in good health are urged to remain vigilant.

Citizens reacted by saying, “The road puddles are all filled with rainwater and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The government has to first look into such issues and do the needful. The authorities need to disinfect such places and keep it clean as public health is important”.

“So far there is no outbreak of flu, dengue, chikungunya or malaria cases. The viral infections are purely season related. However the public needs to be alert and take precautionary measures”, says Dr Balasundar, Chief Health Officer, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) when contacted by News Trail.