The Union Health Ministry on Sunday instructed State governments to carefully monitor cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), as northern China sees a surge in respiratory illnesses in children. The district and State surveillance units of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project will be responsible for monitoring the disease trends, particularly in children and adolescents.
The States have also been asked to send nasal and throat swab samples of patients with ILI or SARI to Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories located in the States for testing for respiratory pathogens.
The Health Ministry issued a letter on Sunday, advising States to immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures which includes the availability of hospital beds, drugs, and vaccines for influenza, medical oxygen, antibiotics, personal protective equipment, testing kits and reagents, etc.
“The Health Ministry has proactively decided to review the preparedness measures against respiratory illnesses, as a matter of abundant caution. This is noted to be important in view of the ongoing influenza and winter season that results in an increase in respiratory illness cases. The government of India is closely monitoring the situation, and indicated that there is no need for any alarm,” a senior Health Ministry official said.
States are also required to upload ILI/SARI data on a Central portal, particularly from the public health institutions, including medical college hospitals.
After pressing China for more details on the situation, the World Health Organisation said in a statement that the country has detected no unusual or novel pathogens or unusual clinical presentations.
The recent infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the adenovirus as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, China’s National Health Commission spokesperson said.
The Hindu’s Editorials
The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz
What was the voter turnout percentage in Rajasthan on Saturday?
- 80%
- 75.8%
- 71.77%
- 71.64%
To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here.
