Ailments soar with rising temperature

Mumbai: The change in climate in the city, with maximum temperatures soaring to 35.5 degrees over the last two days, has caused a spurt in health issues like dehydration, fever and dysentery, government health officials said. Weather officials said a change in the wind direction has caused this rise in temperature.

According to the Meteorological department, rain or thundershower is likely to occur towards Wednesday evening or night in city and suburbs. Maximum and minimum temperatures for the day are expected to be 34 and 27 degrees respectively. The coastal observatory stations recorded winds, those blowing from north-west at a speed of 10 to 15 metres per second. This combined with easterly winds, resulted in the worsened air conditions and rise in temperatures.

Dr Gufran Beig, project director of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology said, “Yes. Sudden rise in temperature has worsened the air quality, after the heavy rains lots of air pollutants have washed away.”

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) executive health officer, Dr Padmaja Keskar said,  “From September 1 till Monday (Sept. 11), there were 271 malaria cases, lepto 24 cases, 102 dengue cases, 20 H1N1 cases, 200 gastro cases, 50 hepatitis cases and one cholera case. Out of all this gastro cases are on the rise.”

In the first week of August 2017, there were 144 gastro cases, around 100 cases of dehydration and 500 cases of fever.

In September, there have been 600 cases of fever and 150 cases of dehydration.

Dr Beig said, “But the levels of suspended particulate matter is the maximum. As Mumbai is blessed by the sea, this does help in scattering pollutants, which results in poor quality of air.”

Dr Avinash Supe, director of major civic hospitals said more Mumbaikars might get affected by diarrhoea. “If the temperature remains like this then the number of patients suffering from the diarrhoea is likely to increase,” he said.

“A large number of patients suffering from diarrhoea visiting the hospitals and clinics complain of maladies like fever, cold, cough and sore throat, which have been caused by change in climate,” he said.

Change in climate has given rise to viral infections, like fever, dehydration and dysentery.

Dr Dilip Patil, a city-based general physician, said, “Due to all these I am getting patients suffering from allergic reactions. Though the haze is not solely responsible for causing it, it definitely plays a role in aggravating the condition of those who already have these illnesses,” he said.