Hyderabad: There has been a spike in cases of viral pneumonia in the city in the past few weeks, with many patients requiring hospitalisation and oxygen support. The symptoms of viral pneumonia are cough, fever, chills and shortness of breath.
Doctors say several kinds of viruses, including coronavirus, cause pneumonia, but most of the current cases were being driven by patients having contracted swine flu or H1N1, as the spike was coinciding with the rise in H1N1 cases. It is mainly affecting the middle aged and the elderly.
Consultant general physician at Renova Hospitals, Dr Sravani Reddy Karumuru said that in the past 10 days, the hospital had about 4-5 patients with viral pneumonia and required high oxygen support. For such patients, their lungs are getting severely affected in 5-6 days from the onset of initial symptoms. Out of every 10 cases of viral pneumonia, 4-5 of them are testing positive for swine flu or H1N1.
Consultant pulmonologist at Care Hospital, Dr K. Shailaja said there has been a steady increase in cases in the four to six weeks. Some of them were severe and needed to be put on mechanical ventilator support.
“Everybody first suspects Covid to be the cause but most of these patients are Covid negative while we have also seen a rise in swine flu. It is affecting old and immuno-suppressed people more,” Dr Shailaja said. The Malkajgiri district hospital has also recorded a rise in respiratory tract infections.
