Monsoon double whammy: Covid with malaria and leptospirosis in Mumbai

MUMBAI: City doctors have begun seeing the worrisome combination of Covid with rain-related ailments such as dengue, malaria and leptospirosis. All tertiary medical colleges have seen lepto-Covid, dengue-Covid and malaria-Covid cases in the past few weeks, though there haven’t been many surprises and patients seem to be recovering with standard line of care.
Parel’s KEM Hospital has documented one case of dengue along with Covid. Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh said the patient is clinically stable and hasn’t suffered any unusual manifestations due to the dual diseases. Fever is the common symptom in such patients among others. “The good thing is the doctors are able to differentiate between the diseases,” he said, adding patients are tested for Covid even if they come with positive reports or typical symptoms of monsoon diseases.
BYL Nair Hospital on Friday admitted one of its first malaria cases with Covid infection. The patient was detected with malaria vivax and shifted to Nair after he tested positive for Covid. “The only difference so far is that the patient has to have more antibiotics and other medications. In a non-Covid era, a malaria patient with no complications would have been treated on an OPD basis and sent home, but now we may have to observe the patient for a few days to see if they develops any complications related to either of the diseases,” said Dr Rakesh Bhadade from the medicine department.
The civic-run Sion Hospital has seen around four cases with the combinations. “We have seen lepto-Covid and malaria-Covid. The patients are being treated with standard line of care and there haven’t been any complications,” said Dr ND Karnik, head of medicine. He said much before Covid made an appearance in the city, doctors had discussed how they would deal with the situation if the pandemic virus presented with seasonal diseases. “We know what monsoon diseases look like. If the patient also has ground glass syndrome (lung opacity on a scan) and breathlessness in addition, we strongly suspect Covid,” he said. “The rapid antigen test that can deliver a Covid positive result within 30 minutes is handy now that the fever clinics are swelling with patients,” said Dr Gaurav Lodha, a medicine resident from Sion.
Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state task force said Mumbai cannot drop its guard for the very reasons that monsoon diseases could complicate things. “Compared to last year, we don’t have many dengue cases, but we must be vigilant,” he said. About 328 cases of malaria were reported in June, while one of leptospirosis and four confirmed dengue cases have been reported this year.