Post-pandemic, other viruses active, keep several Mumbai kids out of school

MUMBAI: In a pre-primary classroom in a Bandra school, athird of the 40 students were absent on Friday due to “viral fever”. In Oberoi School, Goregaon, nine students of a Grade 7class reported ill last week.
“My daughter, too, fell sick after attending school for two days this week,” said a parent. A residential school in Pune has shut for a few days after many students fell ill in the last couple of weeks. “We had to bring our daughter home as a result,” said a city-based parent.
While Covid cases seem to be at an all-time low in the city, other viruses appear to be actively keeping children home or, in rare cases, in hospital ICUs.
“More children are falling sick than ever before,” said paediatrician Dr Indu Khosla from SRCC Children’s Hospital, Haji Ali. She had five children with pneumonia caused by an adenovirus admitted in her care in recent weeks. “A child from Kuwait flew in today with breathlessness that is typical of an adenovirus infection. ”
Adenoviruses are, in layperson’s terms, cold-causing viruses, but paediatricians say their assault has been vicious this year. “We have had one of the worst attacks of adenoviruses this year, and while it didn’t lead to deaths, several children developed 103 0C fever that raged for over 10 days or more,” said Dr Nitin Shah from Hinduja Hospital.
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is another pathogen that has been making children ill. “RSV affects young children, while adenoviruses have been affecting older children,” said Dr Shah.
Doctors are seeing cases of pertussis or whooping cough in which children get bouts of severe dry cough too. “We typically get some cases of whooping cough every year, and our surveillance hasn’t shown worrisome increase right now,’’said a senior BMC official.
Experts have been debating the cause for the sudden rise in non-Covid pathogens affecting children in large numbers in recent months. “This is the case across the country, not just Mumbai,” said a doctor from a civic hospital.
The measles outbreak reported across the country in September-October 2022 was just the beginning. The measles virus is the most contagious virus, and was hence the first to affect children who were not vaccinated in time. “Whooping cough is another case in point as it’s preventable by vaccines,’’ said Dr Khosla.
Experts say children stayed home in a controlled environment and followed a healthy diet during the Covid years. They are now back at school, not using a mask and not following handwashing protocols. “This, combined with poor vaccination cover, is leading to outbreaks,’’ said Dr Shah.
Doctors noticed flu cases too, though a peak is usually seen in April or May. “After Covid, there has been a shift in peaks and patterns of diseases, including flu,” said Dr Shah.