H3N2 Cases On The Rise: Doctors Advise COVID-Like Precautions In View Of ICU Admissions

New Delhi: Doctors have advised extreme COVID-like precautions and masking up with the rise in ICU admissions of elderly and kids patients due to H3N2 influenza infection in hospitals across the country. In the past few days, India has witnessed a rise in H3N2 cases. Several ICU cases of kids, under the age of 5, have been reported in Pune. Similarly, Delhi is also witnessing a spurt in ICU cases of elderly patients.

Gujarat

In Vadodara, Gujarat, a 58-year-old woman died today after contracting the H3N2 influenza virus. With this, India’s death toll due to the H3N2 virus climbed to seven. An 87-year-old man from Karnataka’s Hassan district was the first patient to succumb to H3N2 infections on March 1. The patient had comorbidities, including hypertension, asthma and acute kidney injury. His laboratory test results confirmed H3N2 on March 3, two days after he died.

Pune

In Pune, doctors have expressed concerns over a sudden rise in the number of children, especially those aged below 5, landing in the intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals with acute H3N infection. Most of these patients were not responding to medication, especially the antibiotics.

“Our ICUs have been running full since the past 4-6 weeks. We are seeing a rise in infants and preschool children being affected the most. Some of them are reporting liver issues and even blood pressure anomalies. They need ventilator support, invasive or non-invasive, and a majority of them are under five years of age. The common complaints are breathlessness, cough and fever. Pneumonia-like symptoms are also lasting days. In addition to H3N2, we are seeing ICU admissions due to adenovirus,” Time of India quoted in charge of the paediatric ICU of a private hospital in Pune as saying.

The common symptoms among children infected with H3N2 are high-grade fever, cough, breathing problems and pneumonia. The recovery period for such kids is about 7-8 days. In some malnourished or immunocompromised kids cases, it may take almost 10 days for the fever to subside, the health experts said.

Delhi

In Delhi, hospitals are witnessing an increased number of ICU admissions with H3N2 viral pneumonia, mostly with severe comorbidities and older than 75 years of age.
According to doctors, prevention against H3N2 involved similar measures as the ones during COVID. Doctors advise wearing masks and other COVID-like precautions like washing hands, avoiding crowded places or working in the office or school/colleges to stop the spread of the virus, Economic Times reported.