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Spike in viral fever cases triggers fear in Bihar
Doctors from the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) unit on Tuesday visited Muzaffarpur, which has witnessed a spike in admission of children with viral fever.
An early spike in viral infection in children has triggered panic among parents, who are rushing to hospitals with their wards, after two recent child deaths at a village in Saran sparked fears of a possible onset of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, said officials monitoring the situation.
Government medical teams, comprising doctors, including microbiologists and phlebotomists to collect blood samples were dispatched to Gopalganj and Siwan on Wednesday.
Doctors from the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) unit on Tuesday visited Muzaffarpur, which has witnessed a spike in admission of children with viral fever.
The state surveillance officer took stock of the situation at the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) and the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), both in Patna, on Wednesday.
The state health department has directed all medical colleges and hospitals to prepare a list of viral infection cases at their facilities on a daily basis, said officials quoted above.
Officials were also on the lookout for a quack who administered an injection to two children, suffering from fever and abdominal pain, leading to their death at Sirsha village in Amanaur block of Saran district on Monday.
“We have around 50-60 cases of respiratory diseases due to viral infection out of the 90-95 children admitted in our paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), which has a capacity of 102 beds, said Dr Gopal Shankar Sahni, professor and head, department of paediatrics at the Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur.
On Tuesday, 10-15 neonates were adjusted in the PICU, instead of keeping them in the “warmer” or neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which resulted in having more number of patients than beds available in the PICU, said another senior paediatrician at the SKMCH.
All 84 beds in the paediatric unit of Patna’s Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) were full on Wednesday. These included 22 beds of NICU, 15 of PICU and eight in the paediatric emergency. A day before, 87 children were admitted as against 84 beds available.
“We have an additional 42 beds for paediatric Covid-19 patients in the maternal child health building, where total 106 beds are dedicated for Covid-19 patients. We may shift some children there in case of a surge in cases of viral fever. We do not have any Covid-19 patients for the last five days,” said Dr Binod Kumar Singh, professor and head of paediatrics and also the medical superintendent of the NMCH.
There was an increase of 21% in admission of patients to the paediatric ward through the outdoor patient department (OPD) on Wednesday, as compared to admissions on August 31, said Dr IS Thakur, medical superintendent, PMCH, the oldest medical college in the state.
The PMCH paediatric ward was almost full.
“As many as 165 of our 190 beds in paediatrics department are occupied. The remaining 20-25 beds are reserved for clinical viva-voce of MBBS medicos, whose examinations are underway,” added Dr Thakur.
Around 80% beds in the paediatric unit were occupied at AIIMS-Patna, said its professor and head, Dr Lokesh Tiwari.
“As many as 42 of the 48 beds in wards; 10 of the 12 beds in PICU and two of the eight beds for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) are occupied. However, this is nothing unusual, as 70%-80% bed occupancy is the usual norm at our institute throughout the year. We have all kinds of patients, including 4-5 of respiratory illness,” said Dr Tiwari.
As many as 24 cases of acute respiratory illness cases were reported at the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) at Bettiah. “We have 30 beds and are making arrangements for another 39 beds,” said Dr Pramod Tiwari, medical superintendent of the GMCH.
Two similar cases have also been reported at Motihari, said Dr Anjani Kumar, civil surgeon of East Champaran district.
The 76-bed pediatric ward of the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) was overcrowded with children admitted during last four days with suspected viral infections. A surveillance team has collected samples for testing.
The doctors, however, unequivocally said there was nothing to worry and that the manifestation of viral fever in children was an annual feature.
“The onset of viral fever in children has been slightly early this year, but it has nothing to do with Covid-19. It normally begins before the onset of winter. The viral infection is acute bronchiolitis, which is associated with wheezing and cough and in a few cases fever and dengue. The infection is not at all fatal, but the fear of an anticipated third wave of Covid-19 is making parents panic and rush to doctors,” said Dr Nigam Prakash Narain, a retired professor and head, paediatrics, PMCH and former vice-president of the national Indian Academy of Paediatricians.
“The infections are of four types — bronchiolitis, which affects children less than two years of age, and is caused either by respiratory syncytial virus or para-influenza virus; flu-like illness, dengue and adenovirus (2-3 weeks of severe cough with vomiting),” added Dr Nigam.
First JE case in 2 years
The state reported its first case of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in the last two years when 11-year-old Prahlad Kumar, son of Lalji Ram of Ramnagar village in West Champaran was admitted to the SKMCH on Tuesday. The condition of the patient was said to be serious.
(With inputs from Sandeep Bhaskar in Bettiah and Bishnu K Jha in Darbhanga).
