![]() “People who are over 65 years old and those who suffer from co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, heart problems, and chronic lung infection are at a higher risk of developing severe disease even if they do not have a history of contracting Covid-19,” said Dr Vikas Deswal, senior consultant in Internal Medicine at Medanta Medcity. However, doctors advise that any person experiencing difficulty in breathing, low blood pressure, bluish lips, seizures, confusion, must be hospitalised immediately. While the disease is usually mild in vulnerable groups, it can turn severe and put one at risk of complications and even death. “Patients who have breathing illnesses like Asthma, are immuno-compromised or those who had organ transplant or suffer from life-threatening diseases and the senior citizens are vulnerable,” said Dr Bhudhraja. However, most patients already suffer from underlying health conditions. According to doctors, the hospitalisation rate for patients affected by the H3N2 Influenza is far more compared to other Influenza viruses like H1N1. The H3N2 subtype of Influenza A virus is quite virulent and causes a fever ranging between 101 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit that lasts for 3-5 days and a prolonged cough and cold for up to three weeks. Proper treatment can only happen after diagnosis of the disease,” Dr Budhraja said.Īlthough both Influenza and mild Covid-19 have some common symptoms, doctors say there are ways to differentiate between the two. Mostly, people are relying on self-medication with over-the-counter (OTC) drugs which are not recommended. We advise everyone to get tested for Influenza and Covid-19 but only 25 per cent are undergoing the RT-PCR. “A lot of complacency regarding testing can be observed. While both the diseases are self-limiting for healthy individuals, it’s the differentiation between the two which is causing a worry since both the diseases exhibit almost similar symptoms.“The testing of patients for Covid and Influenza has declined, so it is difficult to establish the exact number of H3N2 or Covid-19 patients,” said Dr Ashok K Rajput, consultant, pulmonology & sleep medicine, CK Birla HospitalĪccording to doctors, testing is imperative as it helps in the identification of the disease which eventually determines the treatment protocol that needs to be followed. Every third patient coming to OPD with complaints of fever and cough is turning out to be infected with Influenza,” said Dr Akshay Budhraja, a pulmonologist at Aakash Hospital.“Their family history reveals that all such patients have had someone in their families who contracted Influenza within a week,” he added. “Almost everyone is affected by Influenza. Delhi recorded the highest with 370 cases. As per official data, a total of 1,161 cases of H3N2 were reported in the country. According to the Union Health Ministry, the most prominent subtypes of Influenza in circulation in the country are Influenza A (H1N1) and Influenza A (H3N2).Īn ICMR survey has shown that 50 per cent of patients down with respiratory infection cases who are admitted to hospitals over two months had H3N2 Influenza, the government told the Lok Sabha last week. ![]() But this time, the outbreak has been particularly serious in terms of the severity of symptoms as well as the number of people who came down with the disease. India usually sees a seasonal rise in Influenza cases from January to March and again from August to October. One person also succumbed to the disease in the city last week. After a gap of five months, the daily tally of Covid-19 cases breached the 100 mark last week even as the positivity rate crossed 5%, giving rise to alarm. ![]() While hospital OPDs are packed with patients complaining of symptoms mostly associated with Influenza, Covid-19 cases too are on the rise. According to medical experts, however, while everyone does need to be alert and take precautionary measures, there’s no need yet to hit the panic button, reports Ashish SrivastavaĪ large number of citizens in the national capital have, of late, been suffering from respiratory illnesses. Even as people were grappling with an unusually-aggressive strain of Influenza, Covid cases and positivity rate began to show an upward trend, leading to considerable alarm in government and health circles.
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