Karnataka - Bangalore

A potent cocktail that triggers everything

Bangalore: No season is busier for hospitals in the city than the four monsoon months.

The sudden change in weather, drop in temperature and the humidity and rain together make up a potent cocktail that triggers everything from the common cold to pneumonia, and viral fevers to malaria.

According to Vasantha Kamath, Professor and Head, Department of Medicine at Victoria Hospital, there are three kinds of diseases that rise during this season.

“We normally see anything between a 10 to 25 per cent increase in water borne, vector borne and respiratory diseases during the monsoon,” says Dr. Kamath.

And at Bowring Hospital, if the Out Patient Department (OPD) sees 700 patients on an average day, the number shoots up to 1,000 during the monsoon months, says S. Rajanna, Resident Medical Officer at the hospital.

“Vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria at this time constitute nearly 5 per cent of all medical OPD cases. While generally we get the occasional case of dengue and malaria, the cases go up to 16 a week during the monsoon,” he says.

Ensure that you protect yourself from mosquitoes with repellents and nets and do not allow water to stagnate so that mosquitoes do not breed, he says. Gastrointestinal infections such as typhoid, gastroenteritis and viral hepatitis are common because of the contamination of water and food, says Dr. Kamath. “To whatever extent possible, avoid street food and uncooked food like salads. And make sure you only ever drink boiled water,” she says. The sudden change in weather — the drop in temperature and increase in humidity — makes the body particularly susceptible this time to respiratory diseases such as the common cold, influenza and viral fevers, says Dr. Kamath. “These respiratory infections thrive in humid conditions and are therefore most prevalent during the monsoon. And such respiratory infections, if neglected, have the risk of turning into pneumonia,” she adds.

“Asthmatics must be particularly cautious because humidity tends to increase the risk of attacks,” she says.

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