Barely had NCR recovered from the dengue bout, and they were taken in by Influenza. The dengue outbreak had lessened as the temperature cooled a little but the National capital region people, rushed to the hospitals and fever clinics with a racking cough, throat pain and high fever. The fever is getting controlled but the cough cold takes about two weeks to get fine. Recognize the flu symptoms, and learn this is what sets flu apart from dengue.
A senior consultant, department of medicine, Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Atul Gogia, stated “With the mercury dropping, seasonal flu infections have started going up and this will last through winter.” Flu does not need hospitalization and doctors provide symptomatic relief with allergy medicines and fever drugs, but the fear that it may be dengue is deep set in most people, and they rush for the vector-borne disease tests. Sometimes the flu fever touches about 103 to 104 degrees and even after taking paracetamol, the fever does not come down for two to three days. This is enough to scare the people to rush for dengue testing and they return relieved with the flu confirmation.
Dr Srikant Sharma a senior consultant working at the Moolchand Hospital’s department of internal medicine, claims that “People start panicking the moment they get high fever. We do clinically assess them to rule out dengue, considering it is also a viral disease and there are certain common symptoms.”
The upper respiratory tract stays unaffected in dengue and Dr. Gogia confirms “A sore throat, cold and cough symptoms are usually not seen in dengue patients. Dengue causes extreme head and body ache, with nausea. We don’t ask all to get tested but only those with severe symptoms or people with underlying medical condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure, children and the elderly.”
At the moment Delhi is trapped in the throes of flu or “viral fever”, as it is commonly termed as. If you are suffering from flu please make sure that you cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough as the infection can be spread to others though droplet infection. Wipe the knobs, door jams, and all those things that you have touched. . Keep your bed linen and other personal items separate, and use disposable tissues to wipe the nose and mouth. These can be disposed after use and don’t forget to wash your hands with a sanitizer time and again, flu can be maintained as it is self-limiting, don’t forget that!
Stay protected- Elderly people, kids or People low on immunity can take a flu shot before the influenza season sets in!
