The new Hand Food and Mouth Disease (HFMD), tomato flu is spreading in India owing to which the nation has already been sounded with a red alert. In the wake of surge in cases, earlier in the week the Health Ministry had issued guidelines for testing and prevention and urged the state to take cognizance of the matter. Therefore, Uttar Pradesh government has issued an advisory on tomato flu, that is identified by the symptom of tomato-shaped blisters.
While so far it has majorly been detected in children under the age of 10, adults are not wary of getting effected either.
UP GOVT ADVISORY
Maintain proper hygiene
Sanitisation should be a regular practice
Parents are requested to advise children to refrain from physical contact with other children
“The best thing for prevention is maintaining proper hygiene and sanitisation of the surroundings. Parents should tell their children not to hug or touch other children having fever or rash symptoms,” reads the advisory which has been shared with all the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the state’s 75 districts by the infectious disease/vector-borne disease department.
The central government has issued an advisory to states on Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), commonly known as Tomato Flu, after more than 100 cases have been reported from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Haryana.
CENTRE’S ADVISORY
According to the advisory: “It seems, the disease is a clinical variant of the so-called hand-foot-mouth disease that is common in school going children. Infants and young children are also prone to this infection through use of nappies, touching unclean surfaces as well as putting things directly into the mouth.”
There are no disease-specific medications available, the advisory said, adding that treatment is similar to other viral infections — isolation, rest, plenty of fluids and hot water sponge for relief of irritation and rashes.
The advisory also stated that isolation should be followed for five to seven days from onset of any symptom to prevent the spread of infection to other children or adults.
SYMPTOMS
Tomato flu has symptoms similar to other viral infections -fever, fatigue, body ache, and rashes.
According to the advisory, while the symptoms might be similar, it is not related to SARS-CoV2, monkeypox, dengue or chikungunya.
Treatment: As published in the Lancet journal tomato flu is a self-limiting illness and no specific drug exists to treat it.
Manoj Agrawal, CMO, Lucknow, said, “We have circulated the advisory to all medical institutes, including the KGMU, SGPGI, district level hospitals and private hospitals to follow the protocol.”
India’s first tomato flu case was reported in Kerala’s Kollam district on May 6 and since than has continued its spread majorly in children The Lancet reported that this endemic viral illness triggered an alert to the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and cases have are witnessing an uptick in Odisha as well.
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