As the national Capital is likely to witness hotter days ahead, doctors in the city are bracing themselves to handle increased cases of viral gastroenteritis, dehydration, heat exhaustion and allergies.
Dr Vaishali Bharadwaj, head of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, describes gastroenteritis as an inflammation in the stomach and intestines caused by bacterial and viral infection. She said the symptoms of dehydration were vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, body pain and blood in the stool. Dr Bharadwaj added that patients could die if dehydration became extreme and blood pressure dropped very low.
She said contaminated food and water lead to dehydration. She cautioned that people should abstain from consuming water, juices and fruit chaat sold at roadsides.
Officials of the gastroenterology department in several hospitals said that over 260 patients are treated daily, 10 per cent of whom are critical, during peak summer.
Dr Sarath Gopalan said, “Erosion of intestines due to bacterial infection causes blood in stool. Inflammation in the intestine due to viral infection causes diarrhoea and subsequent dehydration, which can sometimes prove to be fatal.”
Dr Ajay Bhalla, head of the Department of Gastroenterology at a private hospital in Noida, said the symptoms of gastroenteritis begin three days after contracting the infectious bacteria and patients often mistake it for food poisoning, which causes more complications. He added that cholera is one of the severe forms of gastroenteritis infection.
Doctors suggest that people should cover themselves while venturing out of their houses and abstain from consuming water and food being sold on roads as they lead to infection.
According to a report of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, most deaths in 2015 were reported from the gastroenterology department.