Novosibirsk residents report 39°C fever, weakness in flu season — doctor advises masks
Novosibirsk residents are complaining about flu and ARVI symptoms — the sick are taking sick leave en masse, and offices are seeing fewer and fewer employees. Among NGS readers, many are forced to stay home in quarantine: coughs, runny noses, and high fevers are not letting up. Added to that are chills and body aches.
«The flu is going around, everyone is sick. A fever around 38–39°C (100–102°F), limbs ache, laryngotracheitis immediately sets in (when you bark like a dog when coughing), chest pain from that, and a stuffy nose,» describes one reader of their symptoms.
«Temperature 39°C (102°F). Catarrhal symptoms on the 2nd day. Nose is blocked, throat hurts, dry cough. Temperature for 5 days, then it went away, but wild weakness and apathy. Head constantly hurts. Typical flu,» recounts Svetlana.
«I lost my voice, my head hurt a lot, then a runny nose appeared and my throat started to hurt. I had a temperature of 37°C (99°F) for one day. One son has a runny nose, the other a cough. The older one has a headache and feels like he has a fever, but doesn»t. My husband is the same, and my mom has an unreal cough,« shares Elena.
«Ugh, even though I»ve already had it — lost my voice on the first day without any other symptoms. By morning, 100% voice loss, wild weakness, fever in spikes and severe apathy, loss of appetite. A month has passed, but my vocal cords are only just starting to recover,« wrote Natalya.
«Everything aches, my head is splitting, it»s the fourth day without a sense of smell, sitting at home with the kids on sick leave,« says Viktoria.
There are many complaints not only about health but also about colleagues: readers are outraged that employees are pushing through illness and bringing the virus to the office.
«It would be nice if people with this »ahem-ahem« stayed home and didn»t go to work because either sick pay is pennies or there isn«t any at all, as they get paid under the table. And then they»re surprised, where did the epidemic come from?« says Yulianna.
Therapist Oleg Zagorulko from the «Medical On Group» clinic confirmed that the number of patients with complaints has recently increased. As a rule, children get sick first, and then other family members.
«Among the viruses are both standard seasonal respiratory ones and the influenza virus,» says the doctor. «First and foremost, in the absence of contraindications, annual flu vaccination is necessary, but not during illness. This is the only method of specific prevention against a particular virus.»
Oleg Zagorulko also recommends observing non-specific preventive measures — washing hands after visiting public places. When in crowded places, as well as if work involves contact with people, the doctor recommends wearing medical masks and changing them every two hours.
«This helps stop some of the viral particles that are released into the environment through breathing, coughing, and sneezing,» explains Oleg Zagorulko.
Do not forget to regularly ventilate living and working spaces, drink more fluids so that the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth are properly moistened. If symptoms appear, it is necessary to see a doctor as soon as possible: both to get treatment prescribed and to avoid spreading the infection.
Before seeing a doctor, it is possible to do treatment at home to relieve symptoms.
«Self-treating with antibiotics or antiviral drugs before a doctor»s examination is not advisable,« warns the doctor.
For prevention, you can also drink hot beverages — 8 recipes from Rospotrebnadzor (the Russian consumer health watchdog).
It recently became known that a mask mandate has already been introduced in Novosibirsk medical institutions.
