Mumbai: 20% rise in winter ailments among kids - flu B suspected

[Ronan Kelly]

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20% rise in winter ailments among kids
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Mumbai, December 15, 2010First Published: 02:27 IST(15/12/2010)
Last Updated: 02:29 IST(15/12/2010)


For two days, four-year old Aastha, had a runny nose and a cough. On Tuesday, her pediatrician diagnosed the condition as pneumonia. "Initially it looked like a viral infection but when she came back to the clinic she had breathing difficulty and high fever," said Dr Vijay Yewale, pediatrician, who has a children's hospital in Navi Mumbai.

With the city witnessing a dip in temperature, city doctors are observing an increase in the number of cases of respiratory tract infections such as asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis as well as malaria and influenza.

"Flu cases increase during winter. We have seen at least 15 % to 20 % increase in the number of children coming with respiratory tract infections, common cold, fever, soar throat and wheezing," said Dr Yewale.

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...nter-ailments-among-kids/Article1-638550.aspx

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mumbai: 20% rise in winter ailments among kids

Re: Mumbai: 20% rise in winter ailments among kids

Flu attacks Mumbai with a vengeance
Sumitra Deb Roy, TNN, Dec 15, 2010, 05.40am IST

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Dr Abhay Chaudhary, the director of Haffkine Research Institute at Parel, believes the culprit behind Mumbai's sniffles is the relatively milder B strain of influenza (see box). "We are studying samples sent to us by hospitals on a weekly basis, and but the H1N1 strain is absent. Influenza B could be the cause of some of these ailments," he said, adding that the weather, too, is conducive towards the transmission of air-borne viruses.

Common complaints among Mumbaikars queuing up at out-patient departments across city hospitals are sore throats, persistent coughs and body aches. "There is no doubt that a flu-like strain is in circulation. Bronchitis after an initial bout of influenza is more rampant," said Dr Om Srivastava, infectious disease consultant, Jaslok Hospital. Dr Jayanti Shastri, head of microbiology at Nair Hospital concurred and said the symptoms indicate upper respiratory tract infection.

Children are the worst-affected, and city paediatricians are flooded with patients complaining of breathlessness. "There has been a 25% rise in cases of respiratory ailments in the past seven days,"

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Read more: Flu attacks Mumbai with a vengeance - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ngeance/articleshow/7102674.cms#ixzz188xR237z

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mumbai: 20% rise in winter ailments among kids - flu B suspected

Dip in temperature pushes up number of cold, fever casesLarger | Smaller Ranjani Raghavan

Posted: Wed Dec 22 2010, 03:53 hrs
Mumbai: Doctors have noticed a surge in cold and fever cases owing to temperature variations in the city over the past few days. Mumbai has seen dip in temperature around 17?C on an average to around 14?C on some occasions, which has been rare for the city.

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?There has at least been a 10 to 15 per cent increase in cold and fever cases this winter, as compared to last winter because of the extreme change in temperatures,? said Dr Bachi Hathiram, Head of Department of ENT at the B Y L Nair Hospital. Typically, the most vulnerable to the infections have been children and the elderly.


?Patients are also seeming to take a longer time in recovering from the virus. Normally, the infection runs its course in 14 days. This year, because of a different strain of virus, which seems to be more resistant, some patients have been on medication for 21 days. Most patients have complained of body ache, which may have been severe also because of the cold weather,? Hathiram said.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dip-in-temperature-pushes-up-number-of-cold-fever-cases/727968/0