Norovirus cases being reported in Old City of Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Many cases of the Norovirus are being reported in the Old City of Hyderabad. The virus, which is the most common cause of gastroenteritis, has been causing “complicated gastroenteritis with acute kidney injury,” mostly among middle-aged and senior citizens, and pregnant and adolescent girls, said doctors.

The symptoms include diarrhoea, vomiting and rapid dehydration of the body, causing a severe risk of damage to kidneys, rendering the patients to go for dialysis. Those diabetic are most prone to this highly contagious virus that spreads through food, water and surfaces contaminated by the virus. The Norovirus also spreads through human contact between the infected patient and others.

According to Dr MD Fawad Ali, consultant physician at the Princess Durru Shehvar Children’s and General Hospital in Purani Haveli, the hospital has been witnessing an inflow of anywhere between 25-30 patients every day for the past couple of weeks. A similar number of patients are reportedly being admitted in the Princess Esra Hospital in Shah Ali Banda and other local hospitals.

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Most of the Norovirus cases have been reported from Azampura, Edi Bazar, Purani Haveli, Yakutpura, Old Malakpet and other areas. Doctors caution that it could very well spread to other areas in Hyderabad, if preventive measures are not adopted immediately.

Dr Fawad Ali told Siasat.com that 2-5% of the patients coming to the hospital with symptoms of gastroenteritis were being put on dialysis at the hospital. Two young women, aged 19 and 20, were being treated for the same at the hospital on Thursday evening. Both of them were being treated after being isolated from other patients, with one of them being treated at the intensive care unit (ICU).

Dr MD Fawad Ali, Consultant Physician, monitored the health condition of a twenty-year-old woman who was being treated in isolation at Princess Durru Shehvar Children’s and General Hospital in Purani Haveli on Thursday evening.

Both the patients were found with low blood pressure, and high creatinine levels (2.6 and 3.42 creatinine levels) that cause the blockage of the urinary tract due to rapid dehydration. According to Dr Fawad Ali, the diarrhoea symptoms emerge within 8 to 12 hours of getting infected, and within no time the patient starts getting dehydrated and weak due to the high frequency of diarrhoea.

“Presently we are treating the patients with fluids and other medication, but there is a high risk of kidney failure,” he cautions, observing that contamination of food and drinking water are the main causes for the virus’ spread in the Old City.

“The Food safety department has been conducting raids in the high-end restaurants and other food and beverage manufacturing companies. They also need to focus on the fast-food centers in the Old City, where the food is highly contaminated, in addition to ensuring that the residents are supplied clean drinking water in lieu of the monsoon season, nala overflows and the nala works in several areas of the Old City,” he opines.

Prevention better than cure

Dr Fawad Ali said that the spread of the Norovirus, which hasn’t been new to Hyderabad, could be done by not eating outside food, and by following personal hygiene. Sanitation measures in the residential localities were also stressed at.

There have been annually 2,500 norovirus outbreaks in the US every year between November and April, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Norovirus is also called ‘winter vomiting bug’ and the ‘Norwalk virus.’

Cases of cholera ‘not’ being reported in Hyderabad

Dr Fawad Ali also told Siasat.com that quite a few cholera cases have been reported in the Old City of Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam. However, he notes, that the results diagnosed positive to cholera which is water-borne and deadly, were not being reported by the state governments.