kolkata with the mercury climbing nights have become warmer but early mornings continue to give people the cold feeling the change in season however has started bringing in health issues with some symptoms overlapping with covid doctors have started seeing patients with throat infection cough and cold the rise in cases of common flu and other upper respiratory tract infections is being apprehended in the coming days some patients with common cold but without fever have started coming in fearing they might have covid only to find they are suffering from common coldandcough or throat infection said joydeep ghosh internal medicine consultant at amri hospital mukundapurnow people might wake up feeling cold in the middle of the night as they go to sleep with either the fan or the ac on these extreme conditions must be avoided ghosh saidthe maximum temperature on wednesday at 288c was two notches below normal but the minimum temperature balanced on the normal mark the met office expects both parameters to rise by one degree each by thursdaythis change in season is more likely to have a health impact on children specially in februaryend and march they can be troubled by coldandcough fever chicken pox and waterborne diseases said prabhas prasun giri associate professor of paediatrics at institute of child healthdoctors said warmer temperatures facilitate virus replication including the influenza virus in addition to these viral infections the change in temperature can also aggravate the conditions of patients who have asthma or other respiratory diseases we can expect a rise in upper respiratory infections the fluctuation in temperature can also raise the possibility of bacterial infections said bhaskar narayan chaudhuri microbiologist at peerless hospitalthe met office has predicted moderate rain in kolkata on friday experts said the puddles could lead to mosquito breeding increasing the risk of malaria