Influenza cases on rise, entire families getting infected: Mumbai doctors

Doctors say that infections like influenza and swine flu were hardly a cause of concern last year. Representation pic

With Covid-19 taking a backseat for now, the city is witnessing a sudden spike in influenza and swine flu cases. City doctors are of the opinion that the rise happened over the past couple of days and these infections were hardly a cause of concern around this time last year.

Fashion designer and Sion resident, Kanchan Racharla, 28, has just recovered from high-grade fever, body ache and cold. "It all started with my three-year-old daughter getting a fever and cold. While she was recovering, I developed the infection followed by my husband and both my parents. Fever was as high as 102-103 degrees Celsius and the body ache was so bad that I couldn't get up from bed," she said. The Racharla family was advised RT-PCR tests, all of which came negative.

Positive for influenza A

Doctors say that many people were suffering from these symptoms and most of them were testing positive for influenza A. While last year there were hardly any cases of swine flu or influenza, city doctors are of the opinion that this year apart from the rise in such cases, the infection rate was also high.

Dr Vasant Nagvekar, an infectious disease expert at Global and Lilavati hospitals, said, "We are seeing more influenza A and swine flu cases. The main symptoms are similar to Covid-19, like fever, cough and sore throat. If 10 people with these symptoms are tested, the majority turn positive for influenza and swine flu."

"We treat them based on clinical presentation and they are responding to the treatment. In less than a week, I had two families all of whose members were positive for influenza A," added Dr Nagvekar.

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‘RT-PCR tests can't differentiate'

Dr Om Shrivastav, infectious diseases expert, said that of late influenza A has been the most dominant infection. "Influenza, H1N1 (swine flu) and Covid-19 are from the same family. RT-PCR tests can't differentiate between them. Any diagnosis is based on clinical parametres and not on lab testing," added Dr Shrivastav.

Dr Jimi Desai, a Borivli-based family physician, said the recovery period for flu had also gone up along with the infection rate.

"In the last one month, we have seen what can be categorised as flu with symptoms of fever, body ache and runny nose. This time, the infection rate is more compared to what we have seen earlier. Entire families are getting infected. People are taking more than the usual five days to recover," said Dr Desai.

As not many people are getting tested for swine flu because of it being expensive, data- wise it is difficult to prove the rise in such cases. However, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) data indicates a rise in swine flu cases.

As per the report, 18 cases of swine flu have been reported in July so far. During the same period last year, there were no swine flu cases. In June, there were only six H1N1 cases.

18
No. of swine flu cases reported in July till now (BMC data)