NEW DELHI: One in three Indian parents have said that their children have fallen sick with flu or respiratory ailments four or more times in the last year, a trend which started after the Covid-19 pandemic, says a latest study.
The survey by community social media platform LocalCircles, which studied 31,000 parents across 317 districts, said that the reason for children falling ill repeatedly could be attributed to several types of influenza sweeping the country, affecting people, especially school-going children.
The study points out that though children fall sick a couple of times during the year due to changes in weather each year, the frequency of these illnesses appears to be rising since early 2022, after the third wave of Covid.
According to it, 30 per cent of parents indicated that their children were unwell with cold, cough or fever 4-6 times in the last 12 months, while 3 per cent said 7-12 times, and 38 per cent added it to be 2-3 times. The fallout of children falling ill more frequently post-Covid was that they had to miss school more often. The survey found that 47 per cent of parents said their children missed school always when unwell; 13 per cent stated the children missed school most times when ill. Only 6 per cent said their children “did not miss school despite being unwell.” One of the main concerns of the parents was the “reduced immunity” of their school-going children.
Agreeing with the survey findings, Dr Vivin Abraham, consultant paediatrician and intensivist at Lisie Hospital, Cochin, said there is a definite hike in flu cases in people, especially among children, post-Covid. “It is rampant. We are getting reports of sudden spikes in flu cases among children from all over the country. Children are falling ill more often now,” he told this paper.
He said symptoms in children are lasting longer as compared to earlier times. “Earlier, we would give antibiotics for five or ten days. Now, we are giving it for a longer duration because the infection rate is higher. The children are now transmitting the infection to their parents and others. Also, more children are testing positive for influenza,” he added.
According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the National Indian Medical Association Covid Task Force, the rise in infection among children is also because they have started going to school last year after a prolonged period of isolation.
“During lockdown, their infection rate was less due to lack of exposure. When they start going to real classrooms instead of online learning, they get exposed to more infectious agents,” Jayadevan said.