Mercury dips, infections rise

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 10

The cold wave has tightened its grip with cloudy weather conditions prevailing in the region and cases pertaining to viral infections on the rise these days.

According to the weather forecast issued by the Punjab Agricultural University’s (PAU) regional centre, the weather is expected to remain cold and dry with the possibility of dense fog.

Minimum and maximum temperature recorded on Monday was 6.5 degree Celsius and 20.8 degree Celsius, respectively.

The morning relative humidity was recorded 81 per cent while the evening relative humidity was 54 per cent.

A few days ago, Bathinda was the coldest in the state at 4 degree Celsius.

Due to the changing weather conditions, people are affected with bronchitis, cough and cold. The number of patients suffering from winter ailments has seen a sharp increase in the past few days.

A city-based private doctor, Dr Ripudamanjit Singh Kalra, said, “Children below the age of 10 years are mostly affected as they are more prone to air-borne diseases. Throat and chest congestion with high fever are the symptoms of the illness, which is generally treated through antibiotics and home remedies.”

He suggested that parents should take extreme care in getting their children properly covered.

He said respiratory illnesses were common during winter and could be easily prevented by maintaining proper hygiene. Children prone to asthma should get prescribed medication regularly so that their condition doesn’t get worse, he added.

Dr Kalra said winter was also a bad time for the patients suffering from blood pressure, heart problems, asthma and arthritis. Slight exposure to cold winds can cause serious health problems.

In fact, more patients have started reporting to the hospitals ever since the mercury dipped. The effect has been particularly severe in the cases of heart and asthma patients.

The precautions from cold wave are wear enough layers of warm clothes, ice-creams and cold drinks should be avoided, avoid having heavy meals, keep yourself away from an infected person, touching your nose, eyes and mouth should be avoided, wash hands frequently and excessive cold and heat should be avoided.

While precautions from bronchitis are taking rest, drink plenty of fluids and avoid smoking.