JOIN USTomato flu similar to hand, foot, and mouth disease, say experts
While the Centre released an advisory on ‘tomato flu’ on August 23, experts say it’s no different from the hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) that has already been reported in the state this year.
“This variant is called tomato flu only because blisters tend to be bigger and redder. The technical advisory committee (Covid TAC) had much earlier issued an advisory for Karnataka for HFMD,” says TAC chairman Dr V Ravi.
The Centre’s advisory to states said that between May 6 and July 26, Kerala recorded 82 cases of tomato flu among children aged below five years. Odisha had reported 26 such cases.
Dr John Paul, consultant in infectious diseases at Sparsh Hospital, says, “The name ‘tomato flu’ comes from a colloquial usage in Kerala. Probably this variant exists in other states too, but may be called by different names there.”
He says there’s scarce data on tomato flu as of now, but the disease profile closely resembles HFMD. “However, since this looks like a new variant, it’s always good to track the cases and see whether it will become the predominant strain.
Given that HFMD is already common in many states, Dr Ravi says the Centre’s current advisory could simply be because of greater pressure to report diseases since the Covid pandemic.
However, he says Karnataka’s surveillance for fevers need to improve overall, so that different types of fevers can be detected early and outbreaks prevented.
As per the Centre’s advisory, symptoms of tomato fever are tomato-shaped blisters on several body parts, fever, rashes and joint pain.
Like other viral infections, symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration and bodyache.
The symptoms will resolve in a few days, but the patient should be isolated for five to seven days from onset of symptoms to prevent its spread.
Schoolkids vulnerable
The disease usually affects infants and school-going children. Maintaining proper hygiene will reduce the chances of catching the infection.