BENGALURU: Virus-borne diseases are no longer seasonal as doctors have observed that people get infected all the year round in the post-pandemic era.
Though the frequency of cases alarmingly rises during the weather-changing months, family members or work colleagues tend to suffer from flu-like symptoms like cold, cough, fever or body aches throughout the year now. Earlier, diseases like viral fever, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, or other viral-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya, conjunctivitis, malaria, and stomach infections were seasonal, but now it affects people throughout the year.
Dr Rajath Athreya, Senior Consultant and Head of the Department (paediatrics and neonatology), Sakra World Hospital, said they are seeing around 20 viral fever cases in their outpatient department (OPD), of which one might require hospital admission. Symptoms like cough, sore throat, fever, body pain, and headache are the most consistent, lasting up to three-seven days.
Dr Athreya said during the Covid years, several viruses came into circulation, and people were not exposed to them due to the lockdown. Now, with every changing season, some old viruses or their mutations are circulating leading to flu-like cases. Post-Covid, individuals are being seen to build an exaggerated immune response, which pro-actively reacts to viruses, causing fever or cold.
With the onset of monsoon season in June, Bengaluru witnessed a spike in dengue and dengue-like cases, RSV infections, viral pneumonia, conjunctivitis and gastroenteritis cases. The fear of Covid is gone now but experts suggest continuing wearing masks and following Covid-appropriate behaviour (CAB) to minimize the risk of infection. As explained, the virus keeps mutating, hence, even doctors face difficulty in understanding the exact cause of the flu at certain times.