NEW DELHI: Increasing pollution levels coinciding with a drop in temperature is triggering viral infections and respiratory diseases as city hospitals reported a surge of 30 per cent in such cases in the last few days.
There has been a sharp rise in fresh bronchitis cases with even patients having no history of the illness, complaining of persistent cough and wheezing.
“There has been a change in weather which has led to too many cases. In the last one month pollution levels have gone up. There is an increasing number of patients coming with sore throat, watery eyes, fatigue, headache, chest-related issues, and asthma. People who never had chest infection and bronchitis are having it now,” said Dr Rommel Tickoo, associate director, internal medicine, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket. “There are 30-40 per cent fresh bronchitis cases.
A combination of increasing pollution with winter setting in is triggering lots of viral infections, especially in asthmatics or smokers.” Following the rise in such cases, doctors advised the people to not visit crowded places for avoiding infections. Dr Vikas Maurya, head, department of pulmonology and sleep disorders at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, however, said compared to last year, there are fewer cases of respiratory illnesses.