Respiratory Diseases Caused By Adenovirus In Kids

Manisha Pradhan

Author | 1053 Articles

Every second person across India is down with fever, cough, sore throat, and breathlessness. The adenovirus has been causing viral infections and doctors are seeing an increase in the number of cases across India. Besides the elderly and people with chronic illnesses, such as asthma, school-going children are at the most risk of diseases caused by adenovirus, according to the doctors.

BabyChakra spoke to Pediatric Pulmonologist Dr Indu Khosla about the same and this is what she had to say.

What Exactly Is Adenovirus?

Adenovirus is a virus that can cause a range of illnesses, including respiratory infections, conjunctivitis, and gastroenteritis. In most cases in kids, it causes respiratory infections. We are seeing a surge of Adenovirus infections as well as other viral infections in kids recently, this is because of the post-COVID phenomenon.

During COVID most kids were indoors and they are going through what is called an immune death, the cold winter season that just went by and the rise in pollution has only added to the seriousness of these respiratory illnesses as we are seeing.

How Is Adenovirus Affecting Kids?

Adenovirus can cause mild illness to severe illness, though severe illness is less common and it occurs in children who have lower immunity or have respiratory diseases, or if they have heart diseases.

What Are The Most Common Symptoms Of Adenovirus?

The most common symptoms include:

High fever
Cold
Uncontrollable Cough
Flu-like symptoms
Conjunctivitis
Loose motions
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Muscle or body aches
Headaches
Fatigue

Respiratory Diseases Caused By Adenovirus — *School-going children are at the most risk of diseases caused by adenovirus/ Image source: freepik*

What Are The Dangers Caused By Adenovirus Infection

Some children land up with more serious diseases caused by the virus such as:

Pneumonia: mild to severe
Bronchitis

Dr Khosla adds that with this virus sadly this season doctors have seen many children coming down with the severity of the infection.

How Does The New Virus Infection Spread?

It spreads through close contact such as:

Touching things that are contaminated.
Shaking hands with a person who is infected.
Through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
It can be spread from the body even long after an infected person recovers.

What Is The Treatment For Adenovirus Infection?

There is no known antiviral treatment for this virus. But paracetamol is given for fever and keeping the child well hydrated and ensuring they get adequate rest is important.

Prevention Of Adenovirus

Dr Khosla says that adenovirus can be prevented by taking a few measures like:

Avoiding crowded places.
Avoiding contact with people who are sick.
Washing hands frequently.
Covering the mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing.
Avoiding touching or rubbing eyes if a child has conjunctivitis.
If the child has a fever and cough along with these symptoms then it’s quite likely that your child has been affected by this virus so parents should avoid sending them to school.
In case the child has pneumonia or severe bronchitis then he/she may have to be hospitalised.

She adds that the Adenovirus infections were always there but were not detected so easily because the testing for this infection was not freely available or even if they were, they were very expensive. But now she says since this viral infection has increased, the tests have been made freely available.

Doctors also recommend giving kids the influenza vaccine annually. It is also recommended to pay attention to even a slight respiratory problem in kids during the current situation and consult a pulmonologist or a physician to avoid the condition from worsening.

Check out these natural hygiene products for kids.