Cases of conjunctivitis and other eye infections are on the rise in Delhi (representational)
New Delhi:
Schools in Delhi have reported rising cases of eye infections lasting for three to four days on average, with some sending at least 10 to 12 children showing symptoms back home every day to check the spread of the contagion.
Cases of conjunctivitis and other eye infections are on the rise in Delhi, with many doctors cautioning that they are “highly contagious” and proper hygiene behaviour needs to be maintained to check their spread.
St Mary’s school principal Annie Koshi said that children who are suffering from eye infections are mostly from class 4 to class 7 and that, they are recovering within three to four days.
“Students are recovering and coming back for classes in three to four days,” Ms Koshi told PTI.
“However, we have been sending at least 10 to 12 students back home each day due to this. There are no cases of typhoid or any other diseases in St Mary’s school yet,” she added.
Students suffering from eye infections have been asked by schools not to come to classes until they have completely recovered. They are also being sensitised by their respective principals and teachers, the president of Delhi State Public School Management Association, RC Jain said.
Principal of ITL Public School Sudha Acharya said cases are more prominent amongst the children in the primary section.
“Students with eye infection have been missing school for 2-3 days but for typhoid and stomach infection, students are taking medical leave of at least a week. We are taking all possible precautionary measures,” Ms Acharya said.
Neeru Vijh of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Vasundhara Enclave said that more than 10 per cent of the students have been suffering from eye infections in their school.
“We are sensitising our students. Teachers are talking about this before beginning their lecture. Even though there are no cases of typhoid in our school, we get our water tanks cleaned from time to time,” Ms Vijh told PTI.
Experts underline the need to carry hand sanitisers, while noting that there has been a 50 per cent surge in conjunctivitis cases in OPDs.
Sharing numbers, Dr Soveeta Rath, Paediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismus, and Neuro-Ophthalmology, Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, in Delhi, said they have observed a notable surge of 50 per cent in conjunctivitis cases in their OPDs.
“Particularly affecting children and teenagers, these cases typically present with symptoms like redness, watery eyes, discharge, and a foreign body sensation in the eyes.
“It is necessary to maintain hygiene, especially for kids who are going to school. Each kid should have a separate towel and napkin. They should avoid touching contaminated surfaces or their eyes, as the conjunctivitis virus can spread through contact,” she said.
It is important that kids sanitise their hands after touching any surface and keep hand sanitisers with them, she added.
Delhi government-run hospitals are “on alert”, especially related to cases of conjunctivitis, fungal infections and vector-borne diseases, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
AAP’s Sanjay Singh Suspended For Entire Parliament Session
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
