Mumbai: The city is witnessing an unprecedented surge in cases of viral myositis, with patients visiting the outpatient departments of state and private-run hospitals. Symptoms for the condition include high fever and severe muscle inflammation. In the past two weeks, doctors have seen over 20-25 cases and 9-12 of them have needed hospitalisation owing to related weakness.
Myositis is the name for a group of rare conditions that can cause muscles to become weak, tired and painful. It is usually caused by affliction of the immune system, where it mistakenly attacks healthy tissue of the body.
Patients grappling with severe fatigue, weakness, and restlessness
Dr Samrat Shah, a consultant internist at Bhatia Hospital, said they have seen five cases and at least two were hospitalised due to fainting incidents. With low white blood cell and platelet count, these symptoms do not align with the typical markers of dengue or malaria. Instead, patients are grappling with severe fatigue, weakness, and restlessness.
“We need to examine the patients to ascertain the exact cause. Only close examination over the period of illness can reveal how it manifests. Not every fever accompanied by low white blood cell and platelet count is indicative of dengue or malaria. Our treatment approach has focused on effective hydration through intravenous fluids and comprehensive symptomatic management. These interventions have yielded recoveries across the patients,” Dr Shah said.
Dr Shah added that during the course of conducting comprehensive blood tests for high grade fever on days two or three of presentation, the monitoring of creatinine phosphokinase levels should not be overlooked. Elevations are an indicator of heightened muscle enzyme activity, strongly suggesting a viral fever accompanied by myositis, he said.
