The Hindu : Sharp rise in chicken pox cases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Sharp rise in chicken pox cases

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD March 27. There has been a sharp rise in the incidence of chicken pox in the city during last three months with more than 250 cases being reported at Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases.

Doctors, however, describe the rise as `normal' saying that the number of children coming to hospitals with chicken pox shoots up between December and March every year. About 70 cases each were reported in December last and January, while the number rose to 87 in February. Monthly statistics revealed that the number of cases did not exceed 30 during the six months preceding December.

The year-wise statistics show that 380 cases were reported in 1997, 168 in 1998, 466 (1999), 205 (2000), 303 (2001) and 346 (2002). Doctors said most of the cases usually go unreported and only the serious or persisting ones were brought to the hospital.

The institute superintendent, K. N. Sudha Ramana, says chicken pox, like most of the respiratory infections, strikes mainly during winter.

A viral disease, chicken pox comes accompanied with upper respiratory problems, cough, cold, mild fever and skin lesions on different parts of the body. At a later stage, fluid appears in the skin lesions, which in some cases turns into pus and ends with scab.

"It's a mild but highly infectious disease and gets transmitted fast among children," says Dr. Sudha Ramana. Chicken pox stays for seven to 10 days and then disappears, she says

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