Typhoid in winter? Pretty unusual, say city doctors

City sees a rise in the number of patients struck by the disease, which is surprising at this time of the year

City sees a rise in the number of patients struck by the disease, which is surprising at this time of the year

City doctors are seeing a considerable increase in the number of patients with typhoid at their clinics and this is causing concern as these cases are not restricted to any area in particular.

"Usually we do not get typhoid cases at this time of the year, but I have seen at least 40 patients with typhoid in the last month alone," said Dr Pratit Samdani from Jaslok hospital.

Medicos are also surprised that unlike last year, most patients presenting symptoms of typhoid are also testing positive in the two tests blood culture and Widal test.
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"We generally treat patients based on symptoms like headache and fever along with acute abdominal pain, since not all patients suffering from typhoid will test positive.
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But now the patients coming in to my clinic are all testing positive, which indicates a heavy presence of the bacteria."

Unusual in winter

Stating that contracting typhoid in winter is unusual, Dr Sushant Mane, Pediatric department, JJ hospital, said, "Currently we have at least five kids admitted here, of which all have tested positive for typhoid.
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Because the symptoms of malaria and typhoid are similar, we first treat the children for malaria and if they do not respond, we then test them for typhoid and start treatment accordingly."

In fact, for both malaria and typhoid the most common and visible symptoms are fever with chills, making it difficult for doctors to diagnose it symptomatically.

Most children diagnosed with typhoid at JJ hospital belong to Govandi, Mankhurd, Ray Road and Dockyard areas in the city.

Mane added that the bacteria causing typhoid seems to have developed a resistance to the available drugs, "When the fever refuses to subside, we need to administer a combination of drugs to the patient," he said.

Dr Mangal Jain fromu00a0 Breach Candy hospital said, "In the past week, I have seen four cases of typhoid, and the patients belong to different areas in the city like Chembur, Warden Road and Bandra.
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This indicates that there is definitely some contamination in water lines in these areas and people should take precautions and drink only boiled water."

Kasturba Hospital, on the other hand, which specialises in infectious diseases in the city, has only two proven cases of typhoid and around seven suspected cases.

Executive Health Officer, Dr G T Ambe, said, "We have not been informed about these cases yet, but if patients are testing positive we will trace them and try to understand the nature of contamination,
if any."

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