Govt. Issues the Advisory To States On “Tomato Flu“
Recently, some parts of Kerala have reported cases of children below the age of five getting infected with tomato flu.
In this, red blisters appear on the patient’s body, which gradually increase to the size of a normal tomato, due to which this infection is named ‘Tomato Flu’.
Tomato flu is caused by Coxsackievirus A16. The person suffering from it suffers a lot.
It belongs to the enterovirus family, an old and important group of RNA viruses.
Humans are the only host for enteroviruses (NPEVs).
This infectious disease is caused by an intestinal virus that is rare in adults because they usually have an adequate immune system to defend against the virus.
Infection:
- Tomato flu is highly contagious and children are at increased risk of exposure to tomato flu, as viral infections are common in this age group and are more likely to spread through close contact.
- If an outbreak of tomato flu in children is not controlled, it can spread to adults as well and transmission can lead to serious consequences.
Symptoms:
- The primary symptoms seen in children with tomato flu are similar to those of chikungunya, including high fever, rash, and severe joint pain.
- Like other viral infections, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, joint swelling, body aches and general influenza-like symptoms have been observed in dengue.
Treatment
This flu is self-limiting, and there is no specific medicine for it.
The treatment of tomato flu is similar to the treatment of chikungunya, dengue, hand, foot and mouth disease.
Patients are advised to self isolate, rest, drink fluids and take a warm water sponge to relieve irritation and rashes.
Source – The Hindu
