[1]If your colleague is constantly coughing and sniffling and you work in an air-conditioned office, better watch out because this is the season of “droplet infections” wherein an assortment of viral fevers and bacterial infections are doing the rounds, warn city doctors.
“Forget Swine Flu, we are receiving many patients with different viral infections. They suffer from severe body pains and high temperature; some suffer from throat pain and dry cough and many come with flu and diarrhoea. They also complain of weakness,” said senior general physician Dr Radha Ashok, consultant at Lifeline multi-speciality hospital.
“The only reason we call it ‘seasonal’ flu is because summer holidays is the season when people gather in large numbers in malls, movie theatres and other public places. There is also a floating population of visiting relatives or people going on vacations and bringing in germs from other places,” she added.
The typical symptoms of the self-limiting viral infections are throat pains and cold, fever, often reaching 103 degrees and body ache. There is no specific medication for these viral influenzas — the patient only needs plenty of clean fluids to keep hydrated and medicines, prescribed by a physician, to help control the temperature.
While influenza viruses and bacteria like legionella thrive in humid climes, poor hand hygiene is usually the main cause for the spread of the infection.
“It is best to carry a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. In air-conditioned offices, surfaces like table tops, keyboards and mouse should be wiped with disinfectant. People with coughs and colds should stay at home and take rest,” advised Dr Ram Gopalakrishnan, consultant in infectious diseases and tropical medicine, Apollo hospitals.
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