Doctors distinguish the illnesses by their typical symptoms. A senior government doctor said influenza-like illness commonly includes respiratory symptoms such as a cold, cough or sore throat. High fever accompanied by body pain and headache, without respiratory symptoms, may point to dengue, the doctor said. Diagnosis and testing should be guided by a physician; the doctor said routine testing of everyone was unnecessary.
S. Chandrasekar, head of medicine and critical care services at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, said the current rise was not alarming and matched the usual September-to-November seasonal pattern. He said dengue cases typically increase after rain around mid-November and decline by the end of February. He also noted a small excess of cases this year and said some adolescents were being referred late, with complications such as capillary leak syndrome emerging on the fifth or sixth day of illness.
Hospital reports were mixed. Officials at two government hospitals said fever cases were not widespread and admissions had not increased. Doctors at another hospital said its fever ward was full, although patients were recovering. At Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, medical director Janani Sankar reported dengue and influenza A cases, along with some respiratory syncytial virus infections. She said some children with dengue needed 24 to 48 hours of admission and that the hospital had not seen complications among those patients.
Sankar urged families to prevent standing water around homes and said schools should take mosquito-control measures because dengue is spread by day-biting mosquitoes. She identified abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding, drowsiness and refusal to feed as warning signs in children, and said a child who remains unusually dull after a fever subsides should receive medical attention.
There are no official hospital-by-hospital figures for fever outpatients or admissions in the material. Doctors therefore describe the situation using their facilities’ experience, while saying both viruses are circulating and should be monitored.