The website tomato flu (“tomato flu”), the new disease discovered in India, is most likely a clinical variant from hand-foot-mouth disease: the site mild contagious viral infection which is common in young children and usually causes epidemics in schools. « Tomato flu is not a new disease. In India, there was an outbreak of at least 82 cas and several Indian doctors sent a letter to “The Lancet Respiratory Medicine”. [publicada el 17 de agosto]. They said it wasn’t the flu and it reminded them of a… very common disease called boca-mano-pie”, explains to this newspaper the epidemiologist Antoni Trilla, Head of the Preventive Medicine Service at the Clínic Hospital in Barcelona. In addition to the cases in India, England Kerala, the region of origin of the epidemic. “In the English cases, the hand-to-mouth virus has been identified,” says Trilla.
Despite this, the nature of this new infection is not yet clear, but everything indicates that it is a virus. coxsackievirus, a kind of enterovirus which affect the pediatric population and are common in Asian countries. Foot-and-mouth disease is common in European Union countries. children aged 1 to 10 years old. ” It’s a mild illness, which heals itself, but there is no treatment and it’s very messy because it’s skin lesions,” says the head of the hospital’s microbiology department. Hebron ValleyTomás Pumarola.
No flu, no relation to tomato
“Calling it the tomato flu is a bit of a stretch. [ni es gripe, ni está relacionada con los tomates]comes from the fact that it has a similar to the flu, adds Pumarola. The website symptoms are fever, feeling weak, joint pain and, in this case, striking rashes on the mouth, hands and feet (“It looks a bit like chickenpox”, says Trilla).
“It is not serious and humanity will not experience a pandemic, but it must be watched closely”, believe the epidemiologists.
Although the letter published in “The Lancet Respiratory Medicine” reports 82 cases of tomato flu in India, epidemiologists believe that more cases have arisen since then, due to the existence of an alert system. early. high contagiousness. In fact, since there are very mild cases, it is assumed that there is a under-reporting of infections. Mr Trilla does not believe the disease will reach Spain, as coxsackievirus, the foot and mouth disease virus, already exists here. “There is probably a factor in the Indian population which caused the disease to changed a bit, he thinks.
Despite this, epidemiologist Joan Caylà believes that, despite the fact that the disease “is not serious” and humanity “will not experience a pandemic”, it must be “monitored very closely”. “Today, we talk a lot regarding the tomato flu because we are coming out of a pandemic and we attach a lot of importance to everything. But We cannot be alarmed every time 50 cases of an as yet undefined disease appear,” Cayla reflects.
How does it spread?
Hand-foot-mouth disease is easily transmitted from person to person through contact with hands and feet. faeces and the secretions from the nose (mucus) or the bouche (saliva). Also through the cough droplets.
Children can shed and transmit the virus before symptoms appear (i.e. during the incubation period), while they are sick, and even several weeks following recovery. In addition, this type of virus can also long survive in objects (such as tissues, toys, tables, sheets or towels), which facilitates transmission. Between the moment the child is infected and the appearance of symptoms, it takes time. between three and six days.
