Seasonal flu common cause of viral fever among children, say experts

At a time when India appears to be slowly recovering from the clutches of COVID with high vaccination rate, the surge of fever cases among kids across the country is mounting fears over the predicted severity of COVID-19 third wave and the possible impact it can have on children. Titled as "mystery fever" the doctors inform that there has been a disturbing and vivid uptick in the number of respiratory and viral infections among children.

Grappling with the problems of this unexplained fever virus, physicians believe dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection, could be the main cause of deaths.

Speaking to ETHealthworld, Dr Ketan Parikh, Pediatrician and Founder of PyraMed, said , "The only reason behind such rise in viral fever could be dengue. Beyond 24 hours is a good time to show up to a doctor. Largely, the cause of viral among children is seasonal and quite common due to change in the weather lately. There is no need for strict isolation. Parents should not panic because of fever as COVID is not the most common cause of fever."

Informing that most of it are seasonal flu cases, Dr. Raj Kumar Radhakrishnan, Consultant - Pediatrician and Neonatologist, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, said, "The seasonal flu is back and normally children get 6-8 respiratory infections a year. The fact that children are exposed to the outside world since the lockdown has been lifted is quite the reason for the infection to spread. The second reason is stale food and unclean water as well and finally the vector borne transmission. In order to cut down the surge of the infection it would be best to have kids immunised and vaccinated against all the vaccine preventable illness. Flu shots serve the best interest here."

"There are two types of virus; one comes with cough and cold and the other without it. Those which come with cough and cold can be identified as flu and influenza however the latter one could be dengue. We fight these battles every monsoon. COVID is undoubtedly the elephant in the room, looming large in the background to cause the commotion. But it is not behind this viral. It is nice to be precautionary but if the trend of fever is decreasing over the initial few days then there is no need to worry," Dr. Sudhir Sane, Head of Pediatrics at Jupiter Hospital, Thane, told ETHealthworld.

Last year, overall admission of children suffering from fever in hospitals had shown a decline owing to the COVID-19 situation and lockdown. The health experts suggested that all necessary precautions for COVID-19 should be taken amid the surge in viral fever cases and one should not panic as the cause of the fever remains unknown.