Warm winter comes with its woes

If you though it was only the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was suffering from chest congestion, you were certainly mistaken, reports Jaya Shroff Bhalla.

If you though it was only the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was suffering from chest congestion, you were certainly mistaken. With the mercury rising, people are queuing up with complaints of respiratory problems, viral fever and allergies at hospitals.

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According to doctors at AIIMS, the percentage of patients down with viral allergies and fevers have risen by almost 20 to 30 per cent.

The sudden rise in temperature, which is abnormal in this part of the country at this time, has resulted in a sudden spurt in cases of nasal allergies and bronchial allergies, combined with running nose, common cold, body-ache, pain in the throat, breathing difficulty and fever.

Health experts said smog and vehicular pollution combined with and sudden changes in temperature were the reasons. There is a rise in the number of patients complaining of fever and throat congestion even in Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.

“The mercury is mostly above normal over the last fortnight in the city. With high temperature comes natural heightened risk of viral infection and respiratory disorders,” said Dr H.S. Heera, pulmonologist in the Department of Medicine at LNJP Hospital, who too is down with fever for the last 10 days.

“With warmer winter diseases like chicken pox, conjunctivitis, meningococcemia and viral fever may occur much earlier than usual,” said V.K. Monga, chairman, MCD public health committee.

Prevention, said doctors, was the only mantra to stay fit.