World Lung Day: Rise in respiratory infections; dry cough, H3N2 cases

According to Dr Nitin Abhyankar, consulting chest physician with Poona Hospital and Research Centre they were currently seeing cases of Influenza A with two circulating subtypes: H3N2 and sporadic cases of H1N1 (swine flu). “Chikungunya and dengue infections are also present. This season we were able to diagnose the influenza H3N2 in over 30 cases in the elderly population. These are documented cases,” he added.

Pune Municipal Corporation data up to mid September this year shows over 100 H3N2 infections and over 50 A(H1N1) swine flu cases.

Meanwhile, recently doctors also witnessed a rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections particularly among children. Dr Umesh Vaidy, Head, Neonatology at KEM and Ankura hospitals respectively said that RSV cases are expected in monsoon and winter. “As against last year there were slightly more cases,” he said. There have been some children in intensive care but they recover and fortunately there has been no mortality, Dr Vaidya added.

Dr Tushar Parikh, senior consultant paediatrician and neonatologist at Motherhood hospital also said that frequent handwashing, avoiding crowded places, ensuring proper hygiene and using masks where necessary is important.

Ten years ago, a nationwide study conducted in 880 cities and towns across India by the Chest Research Foundation in 205,000 patients, showed that 50% of patients visit a doctor every day for lung-related ailments amounting to more than 20 lakh patients every day. The COVID pandemic in 2020 that caused a large number of deaths due to lung related ailments, highlighted the importance of the lung as a vital organ that needs attention.

Dr Salvi pointed out that we need to breathe clean air to keep our lungs healthy. “Avoiding the use of polluting substances in our homes, such as burning mosquito coils, dhoop agarbattis and liquid mosquito repellents will minimize indoor air pollution. Growing indoor plants, such as mother-in-law’s tongue, rubber plant, money plant, areca palm and spider plant will absorb indoor air pollutants and keep the environment clean,” he added.

“Lungs nourish our body with oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. The oxygen helps generate 90% of the body’s energy with only 10% coming from the food that we eat and the water that we drink. To perform this vital function, 10,000 liters of air are taken in from the environment every day and of this 1000 liters of oxygen are soaked by the lungs and delivered into the blood, while 300 liters of carbon dioxide is thrown out,” the expert explained.