Rising mercury: City doctors claim these cases have gone up by 15% and are likely to go up to 40%
Mumbai : With temperature and humidity levels soaring in the city, health experts claim they have witnessed 15 per cent rise in the cases of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea in the past two weeks. City doctors added that owing to rising temperatures, the cases might go up to 40 per cent in the coming days. Further, they said that people need to be cautious of such ailments because gastroenteritis can lead to serious illnesses such as kidney failure owing to lack of fluids in the body.
The city witnessed a maximum temperature of 34.2 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of 24.2 degrees on Saturday. Further, the humidity level of Santacruz was recorded at 72 per cent whereas the same at Colaba was recorded at 86 per cent. According to Indian Meteorological Department sources, the city temperatures will continue to rise till 35 degree Celsius in the coming week.
Following this, medical fraternity claims that they are witnessing two to three cases of gastroenteritis in a day which is a bit high as compared to last year. City doctors added that dehydration, loss of fluids and intake of junk food leads to gastroenteritis problems. Dr Chetan Vellani, consultant general physician at Kohinoor Hospital, said, “We are observing more patients turning up with diarrhoea and gastroenteritis problems this summer. One of the major reasons could be contamination of food as people today are habituated to outside food which is not healthy for body. I have a patient to whom I have administered with 15 bottles of IV fluids as he has lost so much fluid from his body. Loss of fluids from our body is not a good sign as it can lead to kidney failure.”
Health experts emphasise on taking necessary precautions such as eating healthy homemade food, increasing intake of water and juices. They advise to boil water and cook food properly before eating and to avoid consumption of outside junk food as it can lead to contamination of food and water.
Manasi Tahalani
