Bengaluru wards see rise in children with respiratory infections

K C General Hospital general ward and the pediatric ward is full. The majority of the children have been infected with lower respiratory tract infections, in Bengaluru, on Friday. Credit: DH Photo/ B H Shivakumar

K C General Hospital general ward and the pediatric ward is full. The majority of the children have been infected with lower respiratory tract infections, in Bengaluru, on Friday. Credit: DH Photo/ B H Shivakumar

The paediatric ward and ICU of KC General Hospital, Malleswaram, is filled to capacity. A majority of children aged 0-5 years suffer from lower respiratory tract infections, which are being reported by other hospitals in the city too.

The next highest number of cases afflicting children is dengue. Doctors said though children suffer from seasonal flu every year, the infection is more severe this year.

What is more worrying is that oxygen consumption has increased among children suffering from lung infection, said, paediatricians.

Hospital medical superintendent B R Venkateshaiah said, “Our paediatric ward is full of viral pneumonia, dengue-like syndrome and Rickettsial fever cases. While 26 out of 30 ward beds are full, all six ICU beds are occupied.”

Paediatrician Dr Raghunandan B G from the hospital said, “We face a shortage of beds in July, August and September every year with viral pneumonia and bronchiolitis but this time the severity is more and babies are requiring more oxygen. “We cannot say how this virus behaves. They have more respiratory distress and the saturation is lower. Out of 26 children, 15 have lower respiratory tract infections, mostly 0-2 years of age. Around 50% of the babies have Covid antibodies, which means they were already exposed to the virus which their parents were unaware of.”

BBMP Paediatric Expert Committee member Dr Rakshay Shetty, a paediatric intensivist at Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Marathahalli, said even their hospital is seeing a large number of children suffering from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and rhinovirus, common among children.

“We need to know whether immunity in children is changing because of past Covid infection. The incidence is higher because children are coming out more with schools reopening. The clinical manifestations in children suffering from dengue illness, for example, are different as the nature of the illness has changed over time,” he said.

Dr Rajath Athreya, consultant neonatologist, Kaveri Hospitals, Bengaluru, who is one of the two paediatricians on the state Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee, said, “In children below the age of six, the immune response to viruses is robust.

“It could be partly because of the virus and partly the immune response that are causing inflammation in the lungs. The body is in overdrive when there is a second infection. The immune response is altered and may not be helpful in fighting infections.”

At Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, authorities said there has been an overload of patients over the past month. “All 460 non-Covid beds are full and more than 50% of the children have respiratory tract infections with RSV,” said one paediatrician.

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