Sudden rise in unexplained rashes in city’s children, doctors suspect viral fever

NEW DELHI: Over the past week, children are turning up at hospitals with an unexplained allergic reaction.

Doctors have identified it to be urticaria and suspect the cause to be environmental.

“Over the week, we have got nine cases of Urticaria, in which itchy rash, patches or welts suddenly appear on the skin. In severe cases, there is swelling in the eyes, lips, mouth and other vital organs or difficulty in breathing,” said Dr Rajiv Malik, senior paediatrician at Moolchand Hospital.

The triggers can be many — drugs, infections, sudden exposure to extreme cold, insect bite, worm infestations in child and from food.

“These cases occur sporadically but this sort of clustering or severity is not common. Two of the cases in fact required very intensive treatment, including steroids. Usually the treatment is done by giving anti-allergic drugs,” he added.

“I have seen five cases in two days, which is quite rare. Since Causes

Allergy to drugs, pollen and other suspended air particles Sudden exposure to extreme cold

Wasp bites

Worm infestation

Food allergy— eggs, sea food, fishes, chocolates, milk, tomatoes

Symptoms

Itchy rashes all over the body swelling of eyes, lips and respiratory

urtecaria is one of the manifestations of viral fever, we think these cases could be caused by that,” said Dr Nitin Verma, senior consultant, paediatrics, Max Hospital, Saket.

“It’s usually a winter sickness but now we get cases around the year. In 50 per cent of cases, the cause is not identified. It gets life-threatening if the swelling chokes the windpipe,” said Dr Dhiren Gupta, senior consultant, paediatrics, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. passages are seen in severe cases

Prevention

Do not self-medicate cover up well to prevent insect bites avoid food from suspect sources

Treatment

Anti-allergy medicines steroids are given in severe cases

“When we witnessed red rashes on my son’s stomach we took him to the hospital on Tuesday and he was immediately admitted. The treatment is still going on but he hasn’t recovered fully.” said Kamal Rawat, Lakshya Singh Rawat’s father, who is a resident of Dwarka.

“We first noticed the rashes about 10 days back, when it did not recover we took him to Moolchand hospital. He has been admitted in the PICU,” he added.