A 44-year-old man died of heat stroke in Alipore on Thursday afternoon, as the city continued to reel under a spell of viral fever and heat disorder syndrome. This has been triggered by the rise in temperature and humidity of a delayed monsoon.

The unidentified victim was taken to SSKM Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Clinics and hospitals across the city have been witnessing a steady stream of patients with high fever, headache, nausea, fatigue and other heat-induced ailments. And with the Met office predicting that the current sultry spell will continue for the next few days, the queue is only feared to get longer.

?There has been a sharp increase in viral fever cases over the past week. There are also patients suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion,? said Subrata Maitra, a critical care expert. ?Thanks to the sudden rise in temperature, certain bacteria and viruses are finding the human body conducive for growth.?

Several people across the city have been hospitalised over the past few days with viral fever and heat disorder syndrome, doctors said.

The patients, from all age groups, are mostly running temperatures of 103 degrees or above and suffering from headache, chest infection, cold and cough. Hepatitis and typhoid, too, are being detected.

The soaring mercury and matching humidity have also spawned a heat disorder syndrome. ?Several patients are coming with heat stroke and exhaustion symptoms, such as weakness, accompanied with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dehydration,? said Milan Chetri, consultant physician of internal medicine at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Calcutta.

?The body has its own heat-reflect mechanism that dissipates temperature through sweating. But the mechanism fails momentarily when there is a sudden and sharp rise in temperature and humidity,? he explained.

In extreme cases, patients have convulsions. ?A patient admitted to our hospital with heat stroke even went into a coma,? he added.

To stay cool in the sauna city, doctors prescribe huge intake of water or fruit juice. ?If dehydration sets in, the first victims are the kidneys. Patients may even suffer pre-renal failure,? a doctor said.

The weather office does not foresee any change in weather over the next two days. The monsoon current over Gangetic Bengal remains weak.

?Localised formation of rain clouds, though, may cause a few spells of rain or thundershowers,? said G.C. Debnath, director of the weather section at Regional Meteorological Centre, Alipore. ?But these will not be monsoon rains.?