School on alert after student contracts contagious disease

NO PANIC Doctors say Hand Foot and Mouth Disease is ‘mild and harmless’; school starts precautionary measures, shuts its primary wing; Delhi zoo also on alert as affected student is its employee’s son

NEWDELHI: The National Zoological Park in New Delhi has started taking precautions and a prominent south Delhi school has shut down one of its classrooms after a student was diagnosed with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) earlier this week.

The classroom in the primary wing of the school was shut on Thursday for carrying out sterilisation activity as a precautionary measure.

School officials said the affected child’s father is an official connected with the Delhi zoo. Though HFMD is contagious, doctors said that there is no need to panic because the disease is ”mild and harmless”.

“The disease was rare even a few years back. But over the past 2 - 3 years we are getting frequent cases. The disease is surfacing particularly during the transition phase, when the winter or summer season is setting in,” said Dr Krishan Chugh, head of the paediatrics department at Fortis Hospital, Gurugram. Dr Chugh was also a member of the team formed by the Union government on swine flue and dengue.

“There is nothing to panic. It is a mild viral disease that comes and goes on its own. It affects children, particularly below the age of 10 and spreads in schools, day care centres and crèches,” said Naval Vikram, professor of medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The Delhi zoo and the school, however, are not taking any chances and have started taking precautionary measures to con-

Not at all. Mild disease but highly contagious. Can trigger outbreaks in schools, day care centres and crèches.

A viral disease (Coxsackievirus) Rashes in hand and feet, sores in mouth.

Affects only humans. Particularly children below 10 years

Avoid contact with affected people. No cure as such. It comes and goes on its own.

trol the disease from spreading. “We had come to know that a student was diagnosed with the hand, foot and mouth disease on Wednesday. We immediately vacated the classroom to prevent other students from catching any infection,” said the principal of the school.

“We have sterilised the classroom and closed it for four days. We have shifted students of that section to other classrooms in the interim. The classroom will now open on Monday. All other children of the class are healthy and safe,” the principal said.

The Delhi zoo, in the meantime, has asked the official whose son has been diagnosed with HFMD not to enter any animal enclosures.

“Doctors of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital have diagnosed my son with HFMD. The clinical symptoms are positive. We are yet to receive the reports of the serological tests. I have been advised to stay inside the house as far as possible to prevent the disease from spreading any fur- Yes. While HFMD is a mild viral disease that affects only humans, FMD is a fatal viral disease that affects only animals.

ther,” said the zoo official.

Even though HFMD, which affects humans, is different from the deadly viral disease Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) that affects animals, zoo officials have taken a series of precautionary measures.

“Lime is being sprinkled across the zoo premises and zoo keepers are being sanitised with Potassium Permanganate before entering beats and enclosures. The tyres of all vehicles entering the zoo are being washed. Such precautions help in preventing the spread of any contagious diseases,” said RA Khan, curator of Delhi Zoo.

FMD in animals is fatal and has been known to be responsible for the death of at least eight animals i n t he Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, popularly known as Chhatbir Zoo in Punjab, earlier this year.

Doctors also said that HFMD cannot jump from humans to animals. Likewise, FMD cannot transmit from animals to humans.