Symptoms include excessive joint pain, drop in platelet count.
A viral fever, which causes excruciating joint pain and a drop in platelet counts, has been detected in the city in the past one and a half month. According to doctors, this unknown fever also drops the hemoglobin level considerably. Patients with such viral fever are primarily advised to take chikungunya tests, but their results have so far been negative.
“We have been getting five to seven patients with such symptoms every week. Since the fever has chikungunya-like symptoms, we refer patients for those tests first. However, all have tested negative,” said S Jayaram, dean of Bombay Hospital.
A 41-year-old man suffering from this unknown fever is currently admitted at the Bombay Hospital. Another middle-aged man was discharged last week.
“So far, in all the patients, the fever has subsided gradually in eight to 10 days. However, there were patients who had severe joint pain and they were advised to be hospitalised,” said Jayaram. These patients, he added, were immobile for a few hours due to the severity of the pain.
According to Dr Iqbal Bagasrawala of Saifee Hospital, they have seen at least five patients with such symptoms every week. “We have tested the patients for chikungunya, malaria and dengue. We can’t figure out what is causing this fever,” said Bagasrawala.
While this fever subsides gradually by antibiotics and pain killers, some patients were also had to undergo physiotherapy, he added.
During winter, viral particles in the air enter the upper respiratory tract causing various types of viral fever. While swine flu and malarial cases have already been a cause of worry, the doctors are now also concerned about this unknown viral fever.
Executive health officer Jayraj Thanekar, however, said that there is nothing to worry. “There is always an outbreak of viral fever during winter season. Fortunately, none of the patients have tested positive for chikungunya so far,” said Thanekar.
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