MUMBAI: Ketan Shah, a Mulund-based businessman, dreads winter. The mere advent of the season has sent his six-year-old son, Ajay, to hospital with viral fever.
Every year, the number of Mumbaikars with the cold and flu virus — now in lakhs — goes up. “This year was particularly bad as my son had to be hospitalised for three days,” said Shah.
Hospitalisation for ailments like severe cold and fever is not uncommon anymore, say doctors. It’s no longer a time for grandma’s recipes for a cold, as causes range from mutating viruses, to pollution, stress and the mind itself.
Is it the city that is making people sick? Or paranoia?”
According to Dr Vasant Nagvekar, a Malad-based practitioner, it is not really viral fever or severe cold that brings people to hospitals. “People are paranoid because of the recent dengue and malaria outbreaks. Even the layman is now aware of what platelet count is,” he said.
“Hospitalisation plays havoc with people’s money, schedule etc. But many parents insist on getting their children admitted, just in case it is something serious,” said the Chembur-based Dr PV Vaidyanathan.
Other doctors point to increased “knowledge” about medicine and a belief that every illness is serious. According to Dr YA Matcheswalla, president, Bombay Psychiatrists Society, there is a psychosomatic component to any illness. “People with certain personalities (in medical parlance) are more prone to fall sick. For instance — the neurotic personality, or the hypochondriac and narcissistic,” said Matcheswalla.
But doctors must take complaints seriously. “Whenever a person is depressed, immunity is low and such a person is more susceptible to infections,” Matcheswalla says.
So, are flu shots the way to go? Not really, according to Nagvekar: “Giving flu shots to people is not really a good option, as the strains of the virus keep on changing.” The vaccine is available in India, but it is given only to people who are at high risk or have very low immunity.
For people who suffer allergies in the morning, Dr Nagvekar recommends changing bedsheets frequently. “Use plastic covers and avoid people with a cold,” he urges.
But when everyone in the city has a cold, this advice is not that easy to follow.
