Many common infections that we see are primarily related to the weather. There has also been a rise in other bacterial infections: there are cases of gastroenteritis, as well as a significant number of typhoid cases. Because of mosquito breeding secondary to the rains, there is also a rise in dengue,.
Ahead of the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu, there are a lot of viral infections going around, especially respiratory viral infections including influenza, and other related viruses such as Covid-19.
The best thing to do is to get a physician’s advice. It is not a good idea to self-diagnose. A physician should be consulted if the fever is going on for five days or longer and is not getting better. Medical attention is also important if there is other organ system involvement, such as shortness of breath, burning while passing urine, persistent diarrhoea, jaundice or any other symptoms involving a specific organ. High-grade fever with shivering or shaking chills also requires medical attention as soon as possible. These symptoms can indicate that there is some kind of infection in the bloodstream.
Self-medication, beyond paracetamol, is not advisable. It is best to seek a doctor’s advice. Fever is a symptom, not a disease, and fever can happen in every and any infection, so it is not specific to an infection. Certain non-infectious conditions can also cause a rise in temperature. A fever may be less likely to be just a viral fever if it lasts more than five days or if there is high-grade fever with shivering. Another important factor is the presence of clear localising symptoms. If you are coughing out quite a bit and there is thick, gunk-like sputum, shortness of breath, pain while passing urine or burning while passing urine, these can suggest an infection of an organ system, most likely bacterial. Such cases may need further evaluation and possibly an antibiotic. Testing is not always needed. This is in line with the guidance from the government of India. The recommendation for testing is only for patients who are sick enough to go to the ICU. For patients who are otherwise well or only have mild-to-moderate symptoms, the recommendation is to go ahead and treat them empirically, rather than test them and delay the window of opportunity for appropriate treatment.
Because a fever looks the same as an earlier bout doesn’t mean it is the same disease, just. Because you have a fever doesn’t mean you need an antibiotic or a specific antibiotic, just.
