BM Health: Weather update: Uptick in infections

Bengaluru’s weather is quite unpredictable these days. The daytime temperature on Friday touched 30.8 degrees Celsius, which was three degrees Celsius above normal, while the nighttime temperature was 20.7 degrees Celsius, which was a few degrees Celsius below normal.

City doctors say that the fluctuation in the temperature is resulting in allergic pharyngitis or some benign virus circulating, causing the throat infection.

A health professional said, “Due to frequent weather alterations, our system is vulnerable to seasonal allergies such as throat infections; the conditions are highly susceptible to spreading the infection quickly for all age groups, but more so among children and senior citizens. There was a steady increase of about three to four per cent compared to last year. Since these infections are highly contagious, do watch out for symptoms like difficulty swallowing, cough, sore throat, runny nose, and, in some cases, loose stool and vomiting.”

Of late, experts are seeing quite a number of patients coming to OPD with symptoms of fever, throat pain, cold, and cough. This is seen, especially when the outside temperature fluctuates, and is associated with rainfall as well.

Another health professional added, “We found that in most of these patients, blood reports are normal, indicating that it is of viral etiology.”