A large number of children in the city are suffering from a combination of conjunctivitis (red eye), fever and prolonged cough that is forcing them to stay away from school, doctors said.
Conjunctivitis is not very common during this time of the year, but this year, a very high number of children are coming to clinics with conjunctivitis and fever, doctors said. The duration for which the cough is persisting is unusually long — up to 10 days, or even three weeks.
A variation of the adenovirus is suspected to be behind this.
The impact of the virus attack is self-limiting but the experience is distressing, said paediatrician Apurba Ghosh.
The occurrence of conjunctivitis at this time of the year is unusual, he said.
“For children between six and nine months, one has to be a little extra careful. In others, the illnesses will be self-limiting and there is no reason to worry,” Ghosh, director of the Institute of Child Health, said.
According to Ghosh, conjunctivitis, which makes the eyes red and sticky, is common in summer or when children use the same swimming pool.
For some children, the cough is recurring after some days, said Mihir Sarkar, a professor of paediatric medicine at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
“In a normal fever with cough, the cough usually goes away within three or four days, but in the current infections among children, the cough is persisting for 10 days or more,” he said.
“There have been instances where the cough has persisted for even three weeks.”
Almost 85 to 90 per cent of children with fever also have conjunctivitis, Sarkar said.
Only a handful of children have required hospital admission, but many have been forced to skip school. Pain from conjunctivitis and cough is also a harrowing experience.
“The quality of life is getting affected though there is no reason for alarm,” he said.
Sarkar suggested that children who are suffering should wear a mask. “The virus causing these ailments are highly contagious and spread through droplets from coughing or sneezing. Wearing a mask will help prevent the spread,” he said.
Ghosh said that the current spate of illness among children could be classified aspharyngo-conjunctival fever, which is caused by the adenovirus.
The manifestation of conjunctivitis, fever and prolonged cough, though, has so far not impacted adults.
Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an infectious disease specialist at Peerless Hospital, said he had not come across any adult patient recently with conjunctivitis and fever.