A woman shields herself and her son from the harsh afternoon sun, while walking on the Raj Bhavan Road in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: File Photo

As Telangana reels under a punishing summer, the heat is doing more than just scorching the earth — it is straining bodies, infrastructure and the economy to a breaking point. Sunstroke may be the most immediate and visible danger, but a deeper and more alarming crisis is quietly unfolding across the State.

The Telangana Heatwave Action Plan 2025, unveiled by Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar, warns of rising cases of heat-related illnesses, worsening of chronic diseases and an overwhelming burden on emergency services. As the mercury shows no signs of mercy, the State is racing to shield its people from a growing, and increasingly deadly, threat.

In 2024 alone, Telangana reported 10 deaths linked to heatwave conditions, but the toll of extreme heat stretches far beyond fatalities. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures is accelerating cases of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke, pushing hospitals and healthcare systems to their limits. Vulnerable populations, including the elderly, infants, pregnant women and individuals with pre-existing health conditions, are at highest risk, the report suggests.

The State’s healthcare infrastructure is stretched thin, with a sharp rise in emergency admissions and an urgent demand for critical supplies such as ORS packets, IV fluids and essential medicines. To address the mounting crisis, the Health, Medical, and Family Welfare Department has issued directives to improve early detection and treatment, with a special focus on training medical staff in semi-urban and rural health centres where access to care remains limited.

“Dedicated beds for heatstroke patients are being set aside, and mobile health units are being deployed in vulnerable areas. Outreach clinics are also being activated to target high-risk mandals, ensuring that even remote communities receive timely medical support,” the report states.

Vulnerability across State

According to the ‘State’s vulnerability analysis’ mentioned in the report, six mandals are categorised as severely affected, with another 106 mandals in critical conditions. Among the districts at the highest risk are Adilabad, Nirmal, Jagtial, Kumaram Bheem Asifabad and Warangal. From 2014 to 2023, these areas experienced between 21 and 40 days of heatwaves per year.

Further, over 31,000 Anganwadi centres, including 4,000 mini centres, are directly affected by heat, leading to a disruption in essential nutrition services. For vulnerable communities, especially in rural areas, the absence of cooked meals, infant care, and hydration support is a significant health risk. The exposure of women working in outdoor kitchens, often in the direct heat, exacerbates their vulnerability, increasing the likelihood of heat-related illnesses, the report notes.

Economic and social fallout

The economic repercussions of heatwaves extend far beyond health concerns. Heatwaves have a direct impact on agriculture, outdoor labour, and the broader economy. With temperatures soaring, the number of hours outdoor workers can safely work diminishes, leading to reduced productivity and economic output.

In rural Telangana, heatwaves increase the likelihood of school dropouts as children are forced to work in the fields or help at home during the summer. With less access to cooling and fewer educational opportunities, the cycle of poverty deepens, further marginalising communities that are already vulnerable.

Two doses of recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV Shingrix) are recommended by the CDC for those aged over 50. Photograph used for representational purposes only
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

What is shingles? 

Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus responsible for chickenpox. Varicella-zoster (VZV) is among the group of viruses called the herpes viruses, according to information on the Mayo Clinic’s website. The virus that causes chickenpox and shingles however, are not the same as the one that cause cold sores or genital herpes, a sexually transmitted infection. The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention says one in every three people in the United States of America will have shingles in their lifetime.  

Also Read:Global survey shows many over 50 in India are unaware of shingles disease despite being at risk

Who is at risk for shingles? 

A person who has had chickenpox will harbour the virus for life. The virus remains inactive for years and sometimes is reactivated and travels along the nervous system when the immune system weakens. Typically, people over the age of 50, pregnant women, newborns and older persons are at risk. People who are under radiation or chemotherapy for cancer will have a lowered immune system also putting them at risk. Those who are on immunosuppressants following transplantation or on steroids for a long time are also at higher risk.  

Shingles can appear as a single stripe of blisters anywhere on the body, including the face. The infection can spread to a person who has never had chickenpox earlier and cause chickenpox in them.  

What are the symptoms? 

The infection is not life-threatening, but it can be extremely painful. The symptoms include pain, a burning and tingling sensation and itching followed by red rashes. The rashes develop into blisters filled with fluid which break, and scabs form. Shingles is contagious until the blisters break. Doctors advise people with shingles to isolate themselves and to take plenty of rest. The clothes and towels they use should be washed separately.  

A person with shingles may have fever, headache, fatigue and experience sensitivity to light. If the rashes appear near the eye, it is important to see the doctor and seek treatment to avoid permanent damage to the eye.  

To prevent spreading the infection, the CDC advises covering the rash. Avoid scratching it and wash hands often for 20 seconds at a time, besides practicing self-isolation. The pain and the rash will settle in three to five weeks and the blisters do not leave scars. 

What are the complications shingles could cause? 

The CDC says shingles can sometime lead to serious complications such as long-term nerve pain and loss of sight. In some people, the pain may persist even after the blisters have cleared. This condition is called postherpetic neuralgia. This could be due to pain signals being sent from the skin to the brain by damaged nerve fibers, according to Mayo Clinic. If shingles occur in or around the eye, known as ophthalmic shingles, it can cause painful eye infections, resulting in loss of sight. Some people could also experience neurological problems such as encephalitis (inflammation in the brain), facial paralysis or have hearing and balance issues. When the blisters are not treated properly, they could lead to bacterial infections.  

What are the treatment modalities? 

People at risk could get vaccinated. Two doses of recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV Shingrix) are recommended by the CDC for those aged over 50. The vaccination would reduce the virulence of the infection even if it were to occur. Vaccination is recommended for anyone over 19 years with a weakened immune system. According to the National Institute on Ageing the shingles vaccine is more than 90% effective at preventing the disease. 

The team used tiny sensors implanted on the participant’s brain to read the intent to move, allowing them to track and analyse brain activity despite the participant being unable to physically move.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have achieved a significant breakthrough in assistive technology for individuals with paralysis. The lead author of a scientific paper on the project, an Indian who grew up in Chennai, Nikhilesh Natraj, says they have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows a paralysed man to control a robotic arm simply by imagining the movements he wishes to execute.

Dr. Natraj is a neuroscientist and neural engineer at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, UCSF. “Here, our team has developed a framework that allows a paralysed man to control a robotic arm for 7 months straight using just his thoughts alone, with minimal calibration,” he says. The results of this study were published in a recent volume of the peer-reviewed journal Cell.

Dr. Natraj and his team developed a framework that enabled a paralysed individual to control a robotic arm using only his thoughts for 7 months, with minimal calibration, showcasing the potential of BCIs for long-term, stable use.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Developing stability in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)

To start with, the team had to understand the neural patterns behind movement. The key was discovering how activity shifts in the brain day to day as a study participant repeatedly imagined making specific movements. Once a machine learning/AI algorithm was programmed to account for those shifts, it worked for months at a time.

Karunesh Ganguly, professor of neurology and a member of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences who studied how patterns of brain activity in animals represent specific movements, saw that these patterns changed day-to-day. If one assumed that the same thing was happening in humans, these changes would explain why the participants’ BCIs became unstable and quickly lost the ability to recognise movement patterns. The team worked with an individual who had been paralysed by a stroke and could not speak or move, a note on the varsity website stated.

The study participant had tiny sensors implanted on the surface of his brain that could pick up brain activity when he imagined moving. The sensors do not send pulses to the brain, but only read out the intent to move from the movement regions of the brain, Dr. Natraj explains.

AI and signal processing

To see whether and how his brain patterns changed over time, the participant was asked to imagine moving different parts of his body. Although he couldn’t actually move, the participant’s brain could still produce the signals for a movement when he imagined himself doing it. The BCI recorded the brain’s representations of these movements through the sensors.

Analysing the patterns in the high-dimensional sensor data, the team found that while the structure of movement representations stayed the same, their locations in the high-dimensional data shifted slightly from day to day. By tracking these shifts and predicting how it would evolve, the team was able to overcome instability in BCI systems and developed an end-to-end signal processing and AI framework.

From imagined movements to real-world actions

The participant was then tasked with imagining himself making simple movements with his fingers, hands or thumbs while the sensors recorded his brain activity to train the AI. The read out signals were then decoded to actuate a robotic arm. Initially, he practiced on a virtual robot arm that gave him crucial feedback on the accuracy of his visualisations, helping him refine his direction and control.

Eventually, the participant managed to control a real-world robotic arm executing the action. He could perform tasks such as picking up and manipulating blocks, turning them, and relocating them. He even managed to open a cabinet, retrieve a cup, and hold it under a water dispenser—simple tasks but those that can be life-changing for those living with paralysis.

Having established that it can be done is the first stage, a lot more work needs to be put into refining the technique and for it to be deployed among people who have paralysis, Dr. Natraj says. Especially, the system should be able to work fluidly in complex scenarios with many distractions, such as when going to a crowded grocery store, he adds.