The changing season has started taking a toll on people of the State capital as number of people affected by viral fever and other infections has increased. There is a big difference in the maximum and minimum temperature these days and this diurnal difference in temperature is causing people to fall prey to the viral infections.
The physicians of the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) acknowledge that the number of patients suffering from viral fever and common cold are increasing in the hospital OPDs.
There is a difference of more than 19 degrees in the minimum and maximum temperature these days. The minimum temperature in state capital is still hovering around 09 degrees centigrade while the maximum temperature has scaled up to 27-28 degrees these days.
The senior Physician of Doon hospital, Dr Pravin Panwar told The Pioneer that very high daily variation of temperature is taking its toll on health of people. He disclosed that there is an increase of about 15-20 percent in the number of viral fever cases these days. The Physician said that people especially elderly should wear woolen clothes during morning and evenings to avoid catching cold. “The children and old aged are particularly more susceptible for catching cold in this transitional phase of season. I am getting many patients who caught cold during their morning walk or exercise. It is recommended that after exercise one should be little careful and avoid immediate contact with cold air,” he said.
The physicians instruct that cold water and drinks should be avoided by the people during this time of the year and once infected with cold the people should immediately consult the doctor. Many people tend to switch on the fans during the day time which according to the doctors should be avoided.
Common cold is the most common disease among humans with an average adult getting two to three infections in a year. The prevalence of this disease is more in children and old people as their immunity is low. The symptoms of the disease are sore throat, running nose, sneezing and fever.