Mumbai: The city witnessed the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases on Wednesday by logging 852 new infections since July 2, when cases were 811. According to the Covid-19 report by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a 63-year-old woman with chronic liver disease succumbed to Covid.
A recent BMC report also shows that the city reported 218 malaria cases, 13 leptospirosis cases, 27 dengue cases and 80 swine flu cases in the first week of August. In July, the city reported 563 malaria cases, 65 leptospirosis cases, 61 dengue cases and 105 swine flu cases. In 2021, the city saw 5172 malaria cases, 224 leptospirosis cases, 876 dengue cases and 64 swine flu cases.
Of the 852 new cases, 96% (816) were asymptomatic and 36 were hospitalised. While there has been a 79% surge in Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, doctors said there is nothing to panic.
Dr Vasant Nagvekar, infectious disease expert and state Covid-19 task force member said, “We have to wait and watch if the number rises in the next few days. There can be an occasional rise in Covid-19 cases but most of them are incidental with a patient admitted for some other health concerns having been diagnosed with Covid-19.”
Meanwhile, city doctors have been seeing patients with mixed infections and have advised caution as patients are being hospitalised with severe complications.
At Bhatia Hospital, Grant Road, a 32-year-old patient is on the ventilator and being treated for multiple organ dysfunctions after he was diagnosed with leptospirosis, dengue and malaria- all at the same time.
Dr Hemant Thacker, physician, who is treating him, said they had never before seen a case of a patient diagnosed with three infections at the same time. “He was brought to the hospital ten days ago—his lungs, liver and kidneys have got affected. Only on the third day of admission did we find out that he tested positive for all three infections, which is rare and coincidental,” he said.
Another patient, a 20-year-old Colaba resident is currently being treated at Bombay Hospital- Marine lines for swine flu and leptospirosis.
Dr Gautam Bhansali, who is treating him said, “The patient ignored his symptoms for five days and by the time he reached out to us, he was drowsy, disorientated with low oxygen level. He had liver failure, kidney failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and was kept on a ventilator for nearly ten days. Luckily, he has recovered and will be discharged this week.”
While mixed infections are rare, city doctors said they have been seeing more cases this year and are concerned as many people are reporting to the hospital late, leading to complications. “We are seeing many cases of mixed infections like dengue with malaria, dengue with swine flu etc. More patients are ending up with complications as they ignore the initial fever and other symptoms,” added Dr Bhansali.
He said that people with comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension, should be cautious and consult a doctor instead of self-medicating. “These infections have overlapping symptoms like fever, body ache. We have noticed people self-medicating with paracetamol. People falling in high-risk categories like senior citizens, should consult a doctor and get the diagnosis on time,” said Dr Bhansali.
Dr Umang Agarwal, consultant, infectious diseases, PD Hinduja Hospital, in monsoon, the mixed infections can happen. “The initial delay in diagnosis leads to complications like septic shock, brain injury, liver failure, kidney failure and ARDS, and treating them becomes a daunting task,” he said.
Dr Rahul Tambe, senior consultant, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Nanavati Max Super Speciality, said physicians should keep a close watch on the symptoms to pick such parallel infections to offer optimum, timely clinical care. “At present, I am treating a patient who has dengue and Covid infection. He needed hospitalisation for dengue, and as a part of preliminary diagnostic tests, he also tested positive for Covid-19. In such cases, the major complication could be a sudden drop in platelet count as both infections tend to deplete platelets significantly,” he said.
Dr Tambe added, with the festive season beginning, people should follow strict personal safety protocols such as masking and hand hygiene to avoid further spread of infectious diseases.