Despite vaccine, cases of pox, measles on the rise

Though chicken pox cases were restricted to about six and four in the month of January and February respectively, 15 cases were recorded in March. The doctors at ICH are receiving about two to three cases every week due to rise in temperature. About 24 cases of mumps were recorded in the past three months and about 20 cases of measles surfaced till March end.

Measles is often mistaken for common cold as it begins with a runny nose, high temperature, cough, but it is characterised by red spots and red eyes. Mumps, on the other hand, has various symptoms such as muscle pain, headache, fever, fatigue and painful swelling of parotid glands.

The vaccines for measles, mumps and chicken pox are given when children are about 18 months old, which is followed by a booster at the age of about four and a half years.

“Despite giving vaccination to the children against the concerned viruses, a large number of cases of measles and chicken pox have appeared. It is due to the sweltering heat that the infections have increased. The communicable nature of these diseases is the reason why children are most affected. There are more cases of children aged below 14 being affected with the vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr Mohan Kumar, consultant pediatrician, Institute of Child Health.

Medicos at the hospital said that very often parents do not take medical treatment for these diseases and the children are not brought to hospitals also. Thus, a majority of these cases remain unreported.