Kolkata: A twin attack of bacterial and viral infections has laid hundreds low in Kolkata over the last few weeks. While scores of kids and adults across the city were affected by mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterial infection that affects the upper respiratory tract but often spreads to the lower tract causing pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a common infection that causes nose, throat, and lung infections – has been steadily affecting many since Aug.
What is worse is an outbreak of high fever with severe joint pain and body rashes affecting many over the last 10-12 days. Most of these patients tested negative for vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya, though the symptoms were often similar.
At least a dozen children and around 10 adults were affected by mycoplasma and admitted to three private hospitals over the last seven days. Many of them ended up in ICU with pneumonia, doctors said. The latter fear that this could flag off a chain of respiratory infections – both viral and bacterial – as the season changes.
Mycoplasma causes ‘atypical pneumonia’ with mild symptoms that can’t be detected with a conventional test. It requires a biofire panel test, which is expensive and not widely done, to identify the bacteria. This has been leading to delayed detection and treatment.
“We have come across at least eight to ten cases in the last one week, both children and adults. For most, it started with a mild cough and cold but deteriorated to severe lung infection and finally pneumonia as the lower respiratory tract was affected,” said Manipal Hospital infectious diseases physician Sayan Chakrabarty.
“The issue with mycoplasma is that it causes atypical pneumonia which is hard to gauge. While the patient has mild symptoms , it suddenly deteriorates and turns into pneumonia,” said Peerless Hospital chief microbiologist Bhaskar Narayan Chaudhury.
As many as 61 cases of respiratory infection have been reported at BP Poddar Hospital chest clinic, including mycoplasma and RSV, during the post-puja period. The sudden surge can be attributed to the significant temperature fluctuation during the day and night, which makes it a conducive environment for respiratory infections of both viral and bacterial origin, said Samadarshi Dutta, consultant pulmonologist at BP Poddar.
A range of viral infections along with mycoplasma cases have been reported at Charnock Hospital. “We have got patients with RSV consistently since Aug, other than those with rhinovirus and mycoplasma. This year, there has been no respite from these lung infection-triggering viruses and bacteria since there was no dengue or malaria outbreak. Etiologically, if one group of viruses dominates, then others stay away. We have had patients with repeat attacks of lung infections which points at quick mutation of these viruses and bacteria,” said Charnock pulmonologist Soumya Sengupta.
“We haven’t seen a slide in respiratory illnesses since July. We have also seen a spurt in metapneumovirus which triggers similar symptoms as mycoplasma,” said CMRI director of pulmonology Raja Dhar. It could be a new virus or an altered strain that’s triggering high fever, said Arindam Biswas, internal medicine consultant.