Centre issues advisory on 'self-limiting illness' Tomato Flu

The Centre on Tuesday issued an advisory to all states regarding Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) commonly known as 'Tomato Flu' which has sickened over 100 children in Southern states in India so far.

The government clarified that 'Tomato Flu' is a viral disease and although it has symptoms similar to other viral infections such as fever, fatigue, body aches, skin rashes and the virus is not related to SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox, dengue and/or chikungunya.

"In fact, recent reports have suggested it to be Coxsackie A 17 that belongs to the group of enteroviruses. The disease will best be described as a clinical variant of the viral hand, foot, and mouth disease, a common infectious disease targeting mostly young children aged 1–10 years and immune compromised adults, and sometimes exposed immune competent adults," the government stated while adding that 'Tomato flu' is a self-limiting illness and no specific drug exists to treat it.

The disease was first identified in the Kollam district of Kerala on May 6 this year and as of July 26, over 82 children younger than 5 years with the infection has been reported by the local government hospitals.

The other affected areas of Kerala are Anchal, Aryankavu, and Neduvathur. This endemic viral illness triggered an alert to the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Additionally, 26 children (aged 1–9 years) have been reported as having the disease in Odisha by the Regional Medical Research Centre in Bhubaneswar. As of now, apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Odisha, no other regions in India have reported the disease in their state/UT by the virus.

In infected, a patient gets Tomato-shaped blisters on several body parts. The blisters start as red-colored small blisters and resemble tomatoes when they enlarge.  

"There are no disease-specific medications available. Treatment is similar to other viral infections i.e. isolation, rest, plenty of fluids and hot water sponge for relief of irritation and rashes. Supportive therapy of paracetamol for fever and body ache and other symptomatic treatments are required," the government advisory stated.

Isolation should be followed for 5–7 days from onset of any symptom to prevent the spread of infection to other children or adults, it added.

The Centre further said that the best solution for prevention is maintenance of proper hygiene and sanitization of the surrounding necessities and environment as well as preventing the infected child from sharing toys, clothes, food, or other items with other non-infected children.

It has advised states that samples from throat or stool may be sent to a laboratory to test for isolating the virus involved in causing the illness, which may take 2–4 weeks to obtain the laboratory results.

The testing should be done for investigation of an outbreak, so that preventive measures can be initiated. The disease can be confirmed through laboratory investigations such as Real-Time PCR and blood tests.