Adenovirus: Why children are falling seriously ill in Kolkata, Bengal

In Deep Dive, we analyse a topic in the headlines with experts. There has been an outbreak of respiratory distress, especially among children, caused by the adenovirus in West Bengal. For the past few weeks, deaths of children in hospitals have been making headlines in Kolkata. So, what is the adenovirus? How serious is the situation? How is West Bengal tackling it? Listen to the podcast for the discussion. What is adenovirus? Adenovirus is a virus that infects the lining of the eyes, airways, lungs, intestines, urinary tract, and it can even affect the nervous system. The symptoms of this infection include fever, cough, diarrhoea and pink eye. It affects children more than adults. Most of the children will have mild symptoms but in children less than a year old, children who have weaker immune systems and older children who have co-morbidities like congenital heart defects, the infection can be very severe. Doctors say the virus comes in cycles of five years or so, and the last time there was an outbreak in West Bengal was around 2018. How serious is the adenovirus situation in West Bengal? According to state government figures, in February alone 5,000-plus children have been admitted in government hospitals. There have been around 47 deaths due to acute respiratory infection (ARI). The government has said only 14 of those deaths were due to adenovirus, and most of them had comorbidities. It is, however, doubtful if all the children who died were tested for what kind of viral infection they were suffering from. Private hospitals have not got a deluge of patients yet but government hospitals are bursting at the seams. The paediatric ICUs are running full and they are even having to ventilate children in the general ward in some government facilities. The government has activated 500-plus paediatric beds across 121 government hospitals. Private hospitals have started taking measures like allotting additional beds, extending their paediatric intensive care units, deploying additional doctors and nurses. Some are also getting additional equipment like ventilators for children. Most of the deaths have happened in Kolkata because there have been many referral cases from the districts. Instead of going to the district hospitals parents are rushing children to government hospitals in Kolkata. The adenovirus causes a lot of respiratory distress and by the time they come to the city the condition of the patient becomes very serious. So the government has also launched a 24/7 helpline which is being manned by 12 doctors. Parents can call up, tell them the symptoms and the doctors will advise if the child needs hospitalisation immediately or needs to be kept at home. This team of doctors has a database of bed vacancies in hospitals so parents are guided to the nearest hospital. Why has there been an unusually high number of cases and deaths this time? What doctors and paediatricians are saying is that during the past two years of the Covid pandemic, children have remained indoors mostly. Hence, they were not exposed to various types of viruses outdoors. Another hypothesis is that during the pandemic most children knowingly or unknowingly were infected with Covid. It did not have serious repercussions on children but if Covid had done any damage to their lungs they are more susceptible. The West Bengal health department had sent 500 samples of viral infections to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases which functions under the ICMR. Around 30 per cent were found due to adenovirus. During the serotyping they have found recombination of type 7 and type 3, which are the most virulent types of adenovirus, are affecting most of the children this time. So these are the probable reasons for the severe infections and unusually high number of cases as well as unusually high number of severe cases. How can people prevent catching the adenovirus? Doctors believe that it is very difficult to prevent transmission; preventive measures don't really work. But they still suggest that children should be kept away from crowds and you should wash your hands very frequently. What should parents do? If a child develops any of the symptoms, keep the child at home and consult a doctor. Do not take your child to crowded places, because this virus does not cause much of a harm to the adults. And if the adults themselves have the slightest of symptoms they should also keep themselves away from their children. Host: Sumit Bhattacharya Audio production: Prateek Kapoor