Bitter Cold, Worse Air Quality, Stronger Strain of Flu Virus – Why Are People Falling Ill in January?

From a virulent strain of the virus to missed flu shots or compromised immunity in the post-Covid world – there could be several reasons why many of us or our relatives were under the weather as the new year kicked in.

In the first two weeks of unusually cold January, doctors have seen patients suffering from cough, runny nose, high fever, and exacerbation of existing lung issues such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).

In fact, a survey by LocalCircles also found that 53% of the families in Delhi and NCR cities of Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and Ghaziabad have at least one or more members suffering from viral fever or respiratory issues.

“This year, the number of people affected with influenza and other respiratory illness has been exponential,” Dr Ajay Agarwal, director, internal medicine, Fortis Hospital in Noida told News18.com. “At least one member of each family has been under the weather in these few months.”

Dr Agarwal said the respiratory diseases comprising mostly the common cold and flu and acute bronchitis have seen a spike, and in severe cases, pneumonia cases have also been reported in large numbers at Fortis hospital.

Most of these infections are airborne and are spread by droplet infection or by touching contaminated surfaces.

The low temperature along with low humidity conditions prevailing in the Delhi-NCR also plays a critical role in exaggerating viral infections.

“Often low humidity is conducive for the virus transmission,” Agarwal explained.

Similarly, Dr Sumit Ray, medical superintendent at Holy Family Hospital, noticed “several types of respiratory viral infections were going on including influenza and H1N1. We did notice a slight surge in viral infections against the previous year.”

Acute worsening of chronic lung conditions was also noticed, he said.

“In late December and early January, almost two-third of the patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had respiratory complaints,” Ray pointed out.

Dr Arjun Khanna, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Faridabad-based Amrita Hospital, believes there is a possibility of a more “virulent viral strain” this year infecting more people and causing illnesses.

“There is a possibility of a slightly more virulent strain in circulation this year. The other reason could be the less uptake of flu vaccines as people opted to take a precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccine due to fear of Covid comeback,” Khanna said.

“Even we advised our patients to take booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which led them to miss the flu shots.”

He further said the other reasons include a “severely awful air quality index which was worse than last year and in terms of temperature, it was colder than last year. If all of this is put together, they all might have together led to an outbreak of flu and winter illnesses.”

However, Khanna concluded that out of all the reasons, the possibility of a stronger strain is higher.

Doctors also believe another plausible explanation of the trend could be the decline in immunity of human body in the post-Covid world, especially among those who were moderately or severely infected with Covid, leading to increased susceptibility to infections.

How to Prevent This?

According to experts, hygiene rules should be followed in extreme winter apart from taking the vaccine again.

“The influenza vaccine needs to be taken every year, of the current vaccine strain for the virus circulating in that particular year, as the flu virus keeps evolving and undergoes mutations very rapidly, making the previous year’s vaccine ineffective,” Agarwal from Fortis said.

Dr. Tushar Tayal, senior consultant of internal medicine at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Gurugram, advised that people should try and drink “warm water”.

At first instance, Tayal said, when someone is feeling sick, “get in touch with a medical professional” instead of testing home remedies.

“Even after falling sick, one should be mindful of preventing infection from the rest of the family members. It can be easily done by following some basic steps of hygiene,” he said while adding that “one must cover the mouth with a tissue or napkins while sneezing and coughing.”

“Also, one should keep a safe distance from people with cold and avoid using the same items like clothes, blankets, handkerchiefs among other things.”

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