CHENNAI: Doctors are witnessing a slight reduction in fever cases over the past one week after its peak last month. They said it might be due to the closure of schools and pooja holidays. The doctors TNIE spoke to said there was around 10-20 per cent reduction in fever cases. This, however, could be temporary and the cases might increase when schools reopen and the northeast monsoon kicks in.
Doctors at the Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital, Egmore, said, “Earlier we used to admit 80-90 cases a day. Now, it has come down by around 10 cases. We also have 1-2 H1N1 and dengue cases, but they are not very sick,” said Dr S Srinivasan, Nodal Officer for Child Health.
The doctor said when it comes to H1N1 influenza, they followed the guidelines of the Directorate of Public Health for testing. “We test only category C cases, who are very sick children. Most patients are not very sick and recover quickly,” said Dr Srinivasan.
Dr Janani Sankar, Deputy Medical Director, Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital, said fever cases in her hospital started falling from the third week of September. Dr C Rajendran, senior General Physician, at Billroth Hospital, said all diseases presented with fever.
“We do not rule out Covid-19, dengue, H1N1 infuenza and ordinary influenza. We also look for bacterial or other viral infections.” Most fever patients recovered in 3-10 days, and not many were becoming very sick.
“Of late, people are coming with diarrhoea post fever. In such cases, we do not rule out food poisoning and other things. We then start hydrating the patient,” Dr Rajendran said.
Whatever the case, people should continue to observe precautionary measures like wearing face masks, covering their nose and mouth while coughing and sneezing, and maintaining social distance. Wherever there are crowds, chances of viral infections spreading become high.
Dr Rajendran said Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine data said there are 327 active cases of H1N1 and 384 active cases of dengue in the State.