Bengaluru: Forget third wave, Covid infections among children already increasing in second wave

A virologist said the number of child cases in the second wave was currently between 10% and 20%

Experts may have predicted large-scale child infections in a potential third wave of the novel coronavirus, but paediatricians are already reporting increased numbers for Bengaluru.

Dr V Ravi, a virologist, said the number of child cases in the second wave was currently between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, higher than the 4 per cent of cases among children reported in the first wave.

Between March 9 and September 25, when the first wave peaked, there were 19,378 cases among children aged up to 10 as per last year's state Covid war room data.

Cases among teens were hazier as the war room clumped 19- and 20-year-olds with the teenage demographic bracket. The total number of cases among 11- to 20-year-olds was 41,895.

In the second wave, as per data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), there were 19,401 cases among children aged up to 10 in Bengaluru Urban alone from March 1 to May 16. The war room declined to provide a statewide picture.

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"This increase primarily comes from the blatantly irresponsible behaviour of adults," said paediatrician Dr Asha Benakappa, former director of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and current head of the Department of Paediatrics, Dr Chandramma Dayananda Sagar Institute of Medical Education and Research.

But there are other factors as well, she added, including diet problems, the disruption of routine viral infections such as the respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus and adenovirus.

"Normally, children get these infections six to eight times a year through scholastic activity. There has been a deterioration of immune readiness in the absence of physical interaction and activity," she said.

Doctors also report strange new manifestations of Covid-19, including gastroenteritis among children aged around 10, Covid toes, rashes and other skin manifestation in around three to five percent of cases. "This could be due to the mutated new virus variants,” Dr Asha said.

One recovery, one death

Among recent cases is one of the youngest Covid-19 sufferers to date: a seven-month-old baby boy in Mysuru. "When the child was brought in on May 15, he had been running a high fever (101-102F), had a cough and showed other symptoms such as irritability and an inability to feed. A rapid antigen test came back positive," explained Dr Ravindra C, a doctor at the primary health centre where the baby was brought.

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Moved to private care, the baby recovered within three days, said Dr Anup S, a paediatric surgeon at Shishoo - The Children’s Hospital in Mysuru. However, a small fraction of cases do not recover. There have been 18 recorded child deaths so far in the second wave. Contrastingly, there were 22 fatalities in the first wave.

Dr Anup also treated one of the fatalities. This was patient 18,04,896, a one-and-a-half-month baby boy who died abruptly on May 5 despite being on the path to recovery. "It was found that the baby had suffered unexpected platelet aggregation leading to myocardial infarction,” he said.