India reports Tomato Flu outbreak in Kerala

While India continues to battle COVID-19 and monkey pox, a new virus known as tomato flu, or tomato fever, has emerged in the state of Kerala in children younger than five years, according to The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The rare viral infection is in an endemic state and is considered non-life threatening. According to reports, 82 children below five years of age have been infected so far.

Additionally, 26 children (aged 1–9 years) have been reported as having the disease in Odisha.

To date, apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha, no other regions in India have been affected by the virus. However, precautionary measures are being taken by the Kerala health department to monitor the spread of the infection and prevent its spread in other parts of India, First Post reported.

Although the tomato flu virus shows symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, both are associated with fever, fatigue, and body aches initially, and some patients with COVID-19 also report rashes on the skin, the virus is not related to SARS-CoV-2.

The disease gets its name on the basis of the eruption of red and painful blisters throughout the body that gradually enlarge to the size of a tomato.