Over 100 cases of Tomato Flu were detected in children under 9 years of age, with fever called so due to tomato-shaped blisters over the body.
Symptoms
The Tomato Flu is a contagious virus that starts with mild fever, poor appetite, malaise, and often a sore throat. The name Tomato Flu comes from the primary manifestation of this disease, the tomato-shaped blisters on several body parts. Immediate symptoms observed in children are fever, rashes and pain in joints, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, dehydration, swelling of joints, body aches, and common influenza-like symptoms. It begins with mild fever, poor appetite, malaise, and often a sore throat.
Samples from the throat or stool may be sent to a laboratory to test for isolating the virus involved in causing the illness, which may take 2–4 weeks to obtain the laboratory results. The testing should be done for the investigation of an outbreak so that preventive measures can be initiated.
The health ministry says, “In children with these symptoms, molecular and serological tests are done for diagnosis of dengue, chikungunya, zika virus, varicella-zoster virus, and herpes; once these viral infections are ruled out, a diagnosis of tomato flu is believed. Tomato Flu is a self-limiting infectious disease as the signs and symptoms resolve after a few days.
It seems, that 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 the use of nappies, touching unclean surfaces as well as putting things directly into the mouth,” the ministry said in the advisory.
Isolation
Isolation should be followed for 5–7 days from onset of any symptom to prevent the spread of infection to other children or adults. “The virus is not at all related to SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox, dengue and/or chikungunya. In fact, recent reports have suggested it to be Coxsackie A 17 that belongs to the group of enteroviruses. The disease will best be described as a clinical variant of the viral hand, foot, and mouth disease, a common infectious disease targeting mostly young children aged 1–10 years and immune-compromised adults, and sometimes exposed to immune-competent adults. Tomato flu is a self-limiting illness and no specific drug exists to treat it,” the government said.
The Government of India has encouraged people to follow proper hygiene and sanitization of the surroundings to prevent the infection from spreading among children by sharing toys, clothes, food, or other items with other non-infected children.
Treatment
Always use warm water to cleanse the skin or for bathing the child.
Take a nutrition-rich, balanced diet to boost immunity.
It is essential to get enough rest and sleep to promote healing.
There are no anti-viral drugs or vaccines available for the prevention or treatment of tomato flu as of yet, take the usual crocin or paracetamol to keep the fever down.
Cases
There are now more than 100 cases of Tomato Flu reported in younger children below 9 years of age in India from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Odisha, the union health ministry has issued an advisory on Tomato flu—also known as Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) suggesting with symptoms, treatment and prevention citing that the infection is common in school going children.
In May, Tomato Flu was first identified in the Kollam district of Kerala and till 26 July more than 82 children younger than 5 years with the infection have been reported by the local government hospitals. The other affected areas of Kerala are Anchal, Aryankavu, and Neduvathur.
“This endemic viral illness triggered an alert to the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Additionally, 26 children (aged 1–9 years) have been reported as having the disease in Odisha by the Regional Medical Research Centre in Bhubaneswar. To date, apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Odisha, no other regions in India have reported the disease in their State/UT by the virus,” said the health ministry.