High fever, cough..: Do you have these symptoms? You might have Spring influenza

The fever goes away at the end of three days but the cough can persist for up to three weeks, the IMA's standing committee for Anti-Microbial Resistance said.

Several parts of India have been registering a significant rise in influenza, one that leaves most people with a painful rasping cough that lasts for days, sometimes weeks. The H3N2, which has been in wide circulation for the past two-three months causes a persistent cough, and is sometimes accompanied by fever. The surge in cases has created a scare among the general public with people indiscriminately using antibiotics to protect themselves. On the other hand, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has warned against the use of antibiotics without a prescription.

In India, influenza vaccines, or flu shots that need to be taken every year, never really became popular. (Bloomberg)

An ICMR scientists while speaking to news agency PTI said: “People start taking antibiotics like Azithromycin and Amoxiclav etc, that too without caring for done and frequency and stop it once start feeling better. This needs to be stopped as it leads to antibiotic resistance. Whenever there will be a real use of antibiotics, they will not work due to the resistance”.

The most misused antibiotics are Amoxicillin, Norfloxacin, Oprofloxacin, Ofloxacin and Levofloxacin. These are being used for the treatment of diarrhoea and UTI, it said.

"We have already seen widespread use of Azithromycin and Ivermectin during Covid and this too has led to resistance. It is necessary to diagnose whether the infection is bacterial or not before prescribing antibiotics," it further said.

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The surge in flu cases in the country comes in the context of a similar surge in the West between September and January, according to the World Health Organization, with many regions seeing such infections returning to levels typically seen in pre-pandemic years. During this period, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and influenza B viruses circulated, although the proportions varied across countries. In most countries, influenza A virus detections outnumbered influenza B.