Delhi hospitals witness sudden spike in swine flu cases, experts say 'frequency' is more

In the last few days, Delhi hospitals have seen an unexpected increase in flu and swine flu cases. According to one of the official polls, up to 4% of Delhi households with one or more members of the family suffering from flu-like symptoms were polled. As per reports, Ludhiana saw its first swine flu death in over 2 years on Wednesday, August 18. The Pune Municipal Corporation has reported 79 cases of swine flu in Pune from January to August.

Delhi swine flu cases on the rise; hospitals see sudden spike in the city 

"Most of the cases are normal flu cases. The symptoms are typically in upper and lower respiratory tract related symptoms. Many a times, when we have done the flow panel for the patients or when we have done swine flu test, we have found that at least 2 per cent to 3 per cent of patients coming up positive with swine flu reports," said Dr Ashish Khattar, Senior Consultant, Internal medicine, Venkateshwar Hospital. According to Dr Ashish Khattar, the number of instances of common flu has increased, and it has increased significantly. He said that it's almost as if there's a second peak here. He also said that crowds have swelled in numerous regions this time, and as a result, similar cases have increased.

"It happens every year. But, this time, the frequency and the number of cases are much more. One reason is that there is a sudden surge of an outbreak of crowds outside. There has been a lot of footfall at the marketplaces, the hospital OPDs are full, people are probably not following the COVID behaviour norms and there is barely any social distancing norm being practised, as per my observation."

Symptoms of Swine Flu

The majority of experts agree that flu has few catastrophic implications, although people with comorbid diseases should be cautious. Dr MS Kanwar, Senior Consultant, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals said that it doesn't have really major ramifications. Most of the time, unless there are underlying comorbid diseases, the patient will just have a cough, fever, body pains, headache, runny nose, and sneezing as complicated symptoms.

With inputs from ANI

IMAGE: PTI