Influenza outbreak in several cities as patients report prolonged illness

Influenza outbreak: According to doctors, this is due to Influenza A subtype H3N2 virus, and it is causing viral fever, common flu, and influenza-like symptoms, including respiratory illness

Several Indian cities are under the grip of viral fever, with patients reporting common flu and severe influenza symptoms. According to doctors, this is due to Influenza A subtype H3N2 virus. It is also causing severe respiratory illness among patients.

"Influenza A subtype H3N2 is the major cause of current respiratory illness," the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently said.

According to ICMR, about half of all inpatients admitted for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), as well as outpatients being treated for influenza-like illness, are found to have Influenza A H3N2.

"This subtype appears to cause more hospitalisation than other influenza subtypes. Of the hospitalised SARI patients with Influenza A H3N2, about 92 per cent presented with fever, 86 per cent with cough, 27 per cent with breathlessness, 16 per cent with wheezing. Additionally, 16 per cent had clinical signs of pneumonia and 6 per cent had seizures," ICMR said.

"A sudden increase in the number of patients having symptoms of cough, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, fever, body ache and diarrhoea in some cases has been noticed. While fever goes away at the end of three days, cough can persist for three weeks," said the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Further, the IMA said that the cases are typically seen in people over the age of 50 and below 15. Some are also reporting upper respiratory infections along with fever.

The cases have been made worse in cities like New Delhi and Mumbai due to air pollution. Recently, 26 persons have tested positive for the H3N2 variant in Karnataka too. Among these, two cases are reported from Bengaluru.

The influenza outbreak comes nearly three years after the first case of the Covid-19 virus was reported in India.

IMA advised medical practitioners to give only symptomatic treatment as there is no need for antibiotics.

The IMA also said that people have started taking antibiotics like Athreycin and Amoxiclav without caring for dose and frequency, and they stop once they start feeling better. They added that "this needs to be stopped as it leads to antibiotic resistance." 

(With agency inputs)