Adenovirus Scare In Bengal: CM Mamata Banerjee Advises Children To Wear Masks, Report Says

Mamata Banerjee has also asked the children not to panic, and advised people to immediately consult a doctor if their child has a cough and cold, and admit them to a hospital if he or she has fever.

Adenovirus Scare In West Bengal: Amid a rise in adenovirus cases in West Bengal, and an increase in the number of deaths due to infection from the disease, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has advised children to to wear masks, and take necessary precautions, India Today reports.

Banerjee has also asked the children not to panic, and advised people to immediately consult a doctor if their child has a cough and cold, and admit them to a hospital if he or she has fever, a report by India Today says.

On March 5, 2023, the adenovirus death toll in children in the state rose to 40.

Currently, the paediatric critical care units of many hospitals in West Bengal are full of young children suffering from respiratory ailments, most of which have been caused by adenovirus. In each district, the health department and the chief medical officer have been asked to stay alert and be ready with the necessary infrastructure and equipment required to combat adenovirus infection. 

Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that typically cause respiratory ailments such as flu-like illness, common cold, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, or croup, an infection of the upper airway, which becomes narrow, making it harder to breathe. 

When adenoviruses affect children, they usually cause infections in the respiratory tract or intestinal tract. While adenovirus respiratory infections are most common in the late winter, spring and early summer, they can occur anytime throughout the year. 

According to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, digestive tract infections are more common in children under five years of age, and most children have had one form of the infection by the age of 10. 

Adenoviruses are spread from an infected person to others through close personal contact such as touching or shaking hands, contact with stool, for instance, while changing diapers, through the air by coughing or sneezing, or by touching an object with adenoviruses on it, then touching the mouth, nose or eyes before washing the hands. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adenoviruses can remain infectious for long periods of time on surfaces and objects, and are often resistant to common disinfectants. 

The two most common ways in which adenoviruses are transmitted are respiratory infections and intestinal tract infections. 

The symptoms of adenovirus infection are usually mild. According to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, symptoms could occur due to respiratory infections or intestinal tract infections. 

Symptoms due to respiratory infections include common cold-like symptoms, sore throat, runny nose, fever, swollen lymph nodes, severe cough, feeling of uneasiness, headache, conjunctivitis or "pink eye", acute bronchitis or the inflammation of the airways of the lungs, sometimes called a "chest cold", and pneumonia.

The symptoms due to intestinal tract infections include abrupt onset of watery diarrhoea, abdominal tenderness, vomiting, and fever. Acute gastroenteritis may occur, which refers to the inflammation of the stomach or intestines and results in diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain.