Docs warn about risk of diseases among children
Kochi: With schools set to reopen next week and a change in climate due to early rains, doctors warn that there will be a spread of infectious diseases, waterborne diseases, fungal infections and dengue.
Doctors have warned that children and the vulnerable need to be careful.
Health experts said schools need to undertake mosquito control measures on the campus to ensure that schools don't become a hub of dengue spread and to ensure supply of uncontaminated drinking water. Also, school authorities and parents need to ensure that children with fever don't come to school and spread it to other children.
"We will be sending a monsoon advisory to schools soon," said IMA-Kerala research cell chairman Dr Rajeev Jayadevan.
Small children are the most vulnerable as they don't have exposure to most of the pathogens. When they go to school and mingle with others, their risk of infection increases. According to experts, it is normal for a child to fall sick due to viral infection around seven to eight times a year, till the age of seven. They said that Covid-19 pandemic had a wide-ranging impact on children's health and staying at home for two long years took a toll on their immunity.
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In schools and other playing areas, kids are exposed to various allergens such as pollen, dust, weed and viral infections, among others, and this manifests as, for instance, allergic cough.
"These are public health-related issues mostly because of failure to ensure proper cleanliness and hygiene. Lack of pre-monsoon preparedness is also a concern," said Indian Academy of Pediatrics former national president Dr S Sachidananda Kamath.
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