Senior Consultant Internal Medicine at Apollo Hospital Dr. S. Chatterjee mentioned a sudden spike in the cases of the H3N2 virus, which has become a cause for concern ahead of the Holi festival, and said that the cases of respiratory tract infections have significantly increased in the last few months.
He asserted that influenza, which is more prevalent than covid, is to blame for the spike in instances. Breathlessness is one of the influenza virus symptoms, according to Dr. Chatterjee, which was reported in January of last year. He said that this time, people are recovering a little slower and particularly are having a prolonged cough and weakness. “They are generally showing signs of fever, body discomfort, sore throat, cough, runny/blocked nose, and some shortness of breath,” he stated.
Recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has called Influenza A subtype H3N2 as the major cause of rising respiratory illness in India. According to the data given by ICMR, Pan respiratory virus surveillance has been established by ICMR/DHR across 30 VRDLs.
Emphasizing the clinical features of Influenza A H3N2, ICMR has said that this subtype appears to cause more hospitalizations than other influenza subtypes.
Karnataka Health and Medical Education Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar stated that recommendations will soon be provided for people to follow in order to take measures and that there is no need to panic amid an uptick in instances of the H3N2 virus, which have raised concerns. A committee has been formed to cap the price of testing for this new infection. We are taking measures to ensure that testing is available at low rates. He said that the fee for the examination will be fixed after the committee receives the report.
