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Hand, foot & mouth disease spreading tentacles in Chandigarh tricity
24 cases of highly contagious disease confirmed in Chandigarh tricity in the past week; maximum (15) cases reported from Panchkula
The highly contagious hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is spreading fast in the tricity, with as many as 24 confirmed cases being reported in a week.
According to the data shared by the respective health departments on Thursday, at least 15 confirmed infections of HFMD have been reported in Panchkula within a week, followed by eight in Mohali and one in Chandigarh.
A highly contagious infection, HFMD is caused by viruses from the enterovirus genus, most commonly coxsackievirus
With the viral infection primarily affecting children younger than five years, various schools across the tricity have decided to briefly switch to online classes to control the infection spread.
Panchkula chief medical officer Dr Mukta Kumar, said, “A couple of HFMD cases surface every year, but this year, their number is much higher. Now, one to two new infections are being reported in the civil hospital’s paediatric OPD daily.”
Mohali epidemiologist Dr Harmandeep Kaur said as many as eight students of various schools in the city had been found infected in the past one week. “The infection is mild and four children have already recovered from it,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dr Suman Singh, director, health services, Chandigarh, said, “In Chandigarh, only one school student has been tested positive for the infection so far. Samples of some suspected patients have been sent for testing to PGIMER.”
PGIMER also confirmed on Thursday that it had tested nine children from Chandigarh and Mohali for HFMD in the past 15 days and all had tested positive for the disease.
Three more schools switch to online mode
Amid the rise in HFMD cases, two more private schools in Chandigarh and one in Panchkula decided to shift their classes to online mode.
While Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, has decided to hold online classes for all classes on Friday, Tender Heart High School, Sector 33, announced that it will hold online classes for Play group, Nursery, LKG, UKG, Class 1 and Class 2 on Friday.
While Tender Heart has detected a suspected HFMD case, Sacred Heart decided to shift to online classes as some of its students had recently come in contact with Covid-infected students at an MUN at another private school.
Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, also decided to start online classes for Classes LKG to Class 2 from Friday. School principal Gulshan Kaur said a health audit of the school was conducted and many children were found sick. “Though no confirmed HFMD case has been detected, we don’t want to take any risk,” she said.
In Mohali, a spokesperson of Yadavindra Public School said the three students found infected earlier this week had recovered and they will be returning to normal classes for the kindergarten wing from Monday.
Earlier on Wednesday, St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, had decided to remain closed for nursery to Class 2 on Thursday and Delhi Public School, Sector 40, had switched the classes of nursery and preparatory students to online mode for Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, St Kabir decided to hold online classes for nursery to Class 2 on Friday.
St John’s High School, Sector 26, had also decided on Tuesday to conduct all its classes in online mode from Wednesday onwards till further notice in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the city.
Meanwhile, the Chandigarh education department has appointed a nodal person at PGIMER to coordinate collection of samples from schools. An advisory by the department said the sample has to be collected by the school health team and transported to PGIMER through the nodal person.
Know the disease
A highly contagious infection, hand, foot and mouth disease is more likely to affect children younger than five years, but older children and adults can also get it
The disease is usually mild and gets over in a week, and treatment is directed towards the symptoms. Initial symptoms include fever, poor appetite and sore throat, and in day or two, painful sores develop on the mouth, hands and soles of the feet.
Rashes may also appear on knees, elbows, buttocks or genital area. The disease is confirmed through testing of samples from the throat or stool. Infected patients must be isolated for infection control. Close contact with the patient and sharing of their belongings must be avoided.
Two monkeypox suspects test negative
PGIMER on Thursday said the institute had sent samples of one suspected monkeypox patient and his close contact for testing at NIV, Pune. The reports of both people were negative for monkeypox. At present, there is no monkeypox case in Chandigarh, clarified the UT health department.
