Covid numbers are steadily coming down but hospitals and clinics across Kolkata are having patients infected with various strains of the influenza virus.
Some of the hospitals said they have as many as influenza patients as, or even more than, Covid patients. Doctors said most of the patients admitted have not taken their flu shots.
The symptoms of influenza, including that of H1N1 (swine flu), are fever, sore throat, cough and body ache, said doctors.
“The symptoms are quite similar to that of Covid. About a month back, when people were coming with these symptoms, we were treating them as Covid patients even if they did not get themselves tested. But now, a large proportion of such patients are likely to have various strains of influenza, including swine flu,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
“Like Covid, influenza, too, can lead to viral pneumonia. Influenza leads to a higher risk for catching a secondary bacterial infection,” said Bhattacharya.
“Covid patients, if not admitted to hospital, usually do not contract a secondary bacterial infection. But influenza patients, even those staying at home, can catch such an infection.”
Bhattacharya has four influenza patients admitted under him, of whom three are suffering from swine flu. One of them is in a critical condition, he said. None of the patients has taken the flu shot.
“The influenza vaccine is recommended for everyone above 65. But it seems, because of the Covid pandemic, many have missed their flu shots,” said Bhattacharya.
Doctors said many patients, who are getting admitted to hospital with Covid-like symptoms, are being diagnosed with influenza.
“During admission, people with fever and cough are getting tested for Covid. After the result is negative, they are shifted to the ward.
But when the influenza test, including that of swine flu, is coming back positive, we are having to shift the patient to the isolation ward,” said Amitabha Saha, head of intensive care unit at AMRI Mukundapur.
He said the cost of influenza tests should be brought down to help detect more fever patients with the virus.
Some of the hospitals said they had been getting a stream of influenza patients for the last couple of weeks. Peerless Hospital on Friday had six swine flu patients.
“The number of influenza patients is now higher than Covid cases. We have four Covid patients admitted,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital. Medica Superspecialty Hospital had six influenza patients. The Covid patient count at the hospital stands at seven.
“The surge in influenza cases started a couple of weeks back,” said Alok Roy, chairman of Medica. Belle Vue Clinic had eight influenza patients admitted, including those detected with H1N1, compared with 13 Covid patients," said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
“We are having a large number of patients coming with influenza-like symptoms at our outpatient department, too. Many of them are below 18 years,” said Tondon.
