Rain effect: Kids down with viral fever, diarrhoea

Paediatricians in the city said that they have been witnessing a surge in cases of diarrhoea, accompanied by vomiting and fever. The doctors, however, assured that it is not a cause for worry. 

“In a few weeks, I witnessed a lot of cases where children were suffering from prolonged diarrhoea and vomiting. While it is probable that there were affected by a virus, the children have been recovering with conservative treatment,” said Dr Mathrubootham Sridhar, a consultant paediatrician. He added that in most of the cases, the patients are children younger than 10.

Stating that the virus is probably spreading due to the rains, the doctor said, “The diarrhoea is accompanied by fever as well.”

A couple of parents claimed that their children have not been able to attend school due to cold and fever. “My son developed a cold and cough which began as a severe throat pain. He had to miss 

school for three days,” said Sonia M, mother of a 11-year-old boy. 

But, the Health Department stated that this is not a major problem as it is not an epidemic. “Fever, cold, and diarrhoea is common during the rains. Besides, the change in climate is bound to affect children most,” said Dr K Kolandaisamy, the director of the Department of Public Health.

The Institute of Child Health and Children’s Hospital (ICH), Egmore, too has seen a surge in such cases. “We do get cases of children with diarrhoea. Besides that, we have also been getting cases of children falling sick with complaints of cold with cough or fever with body pain in two weeks,” said Dr Niku Srinivasan, head of the neonatal intensive care unit.  

“Most often, parents start panicking if the diarrhoea lasts more than a couple of days. But, there is nothing to worry about as this is a common phenomenon during the monsoon,” the doctor added.