Every other day, one gets to hear about a close one or an acquaintance having fever, cold and/or scratchy throat. Even children are not immune to this spell of ‘sickness’. In the current situation, where COVID-19 cases are surging, even mild symptoms among kids leave parents worried. Not taking a chance, they are visiting doctors or opting for video consultation, driving up paediatric out-patient (OP) consultation numbers.
However, paediatricians from prominent hospitals say the number of COVID cases among children is low. In what has come as a relief to parents, severe COVID symptoms among children are negligible. They are recovering under home isolation.
Clinical director of Neonatology at KIMS Cuddles C. Aparna says paediatric OP consultations have increased by 100%, but she is yet to come across any severe case of COVID among children. “We have been seeing children complaining of fever, vomiting, mild cold, cough, decreased appetite and decreased activity. Among those suspected of COVID, a high proportion are testing positive, but overall, the cases are low. Those few paediatric COVID patients are recovering under home isolation,” she explains.
Testing hesitancy
Dr Aparna adds that many parents are hesitant to give their children’s swab samples for testing.
Other paediatricians also say that the patients they have checked so far had mild symptoms such as cough, cold, or high fever for a day or two followed by low grade fever, during their OP consultations.
Consultant paediatrician at Rainbow Childrens Hospitals, Preetham Kumar Reddy points out that although mild symptoms were observed in children last month, many parents dismissed it as seasonal flu. Now, the high COVID caseload is making them wary and run to doctors.
Head of Paediatrics department at Niloufer Hospital, T. Usha Rani says children with high fever accompanied by pain in abdomen and vomiting, have tested positive for COVID. When checked, most of the patients’ families had a travel history. Other doctors say if a family member was diagnosed with COVID, children with symptoms also tested positive.
When to hospitalise
Dr Preetham says if a child has COVID, and has fever for more than three days, severe cough, experiences breathlessness and does not eat well, they might end up in hospital at some point of time.
Though, currently, children detected with COVID are showing only mild symptoms, the paediatrician has advised parents to be cautious till full understanding of Omicron among the country’s population is gained.
