The emergence of a brand new and uncommon viral an infection in kids in India has well being officers involved. On high of COVID, monkeypox, and an impending “twindemic” surge of COVID and what seems like an aggressive pressure of influenza, dad and mom now need to ask if the “tomato flu” is one thing to fret about.
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So what’s tomato flu? This uncommon an infection, also called tomato fever, has struck 82 kids youthful than 5 in India. The virus will get its title from the “eruption of purple and painful blisters all through the physique that step by step enlarge to the scale of a tomato,” in response to an article revealed in British medical journal Lancet.
Within the early phases, these blisters can seem like monkeypox on youthful sufferers. Other than the namesake blisters, signs embrace excessive fever, rashes, and intense joint ache, and secondary signs embrace fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Different specialists imagine that the tomato flu is a brand new variant of hand, foot, and mouth illness, a typical sickness for kids below the age of 5. Like hand, foot, and mouth illness, the sickness appears to unfold shortly by means of bodily contact, which is why youthful youngsters are usually excellent carriers for the virus.
“Given the similarities at hand, foot, and mouth illness, if the outbreak of tomato flu in kids just isn’t managed and prevented, transmission may result in severe penalties by spreading in adults as effectively,” the authors of the Lancet piece wrote.
The excellent news (so to talk) is that as of now, this new tomato flu doesn’t appear to be life-threatening. Of the 82 instances reported, there are nonetheless 82 kids alive. The dangerous information is that it’s uncomfortable and extremely contagious. “The coxsackievirus is worldwide and infectious—and might simply unfold,” Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious illness on the College of Buffalo New York, advised Prevention.
As for remedy of tomato flu? Consultants say there is no such thing as a particular drug or remedy to fight the virus, and that the principle type of remedy is relaxation and OTC fever-reducing medicines for aches and pains.
To keep away from the unfold of tomato flu (or any sickness), you recognize the drill. Wash your arms. Masks up. Isolate in case you or a member of the family really feel sick.
Subsequent, learn up on our favourite all-natural cough and chilly merchandise for teenagers:
