.jpg?$p=630dc0a&f=16x10&w=852&q=0.8)
Representative Image
Alappuzha: The Kerala health department has not given any guidelines on giving preventive medicine for leptospirosis to children yet. The department initiated an awareness campaign on the spread of the disease in view of the heavy rainfall and waterlogging in the state. But it neither issued any direction on giving the medicine to the children amid the growing concerns of leptospirosis spread.
Currently, many students have to wade through the stagnant water on their way to school.
The guidelines direct the people including volunteers of disaster relief who had stepped into the polluted water, visited places prone to the presence of rodents, and had close contact with domestic animals to consume preventive medicines doxycycline as per the advice of the health workers.
Two tablets of 100 milligrams have been distributed for a week. However, the use of doxycycline is prohibited among children below 12 years, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. In pregnant women, doxycycline may affect the growth of the foetus and affect tooth strength and growth in children.
Usually, Azithromycin has been dispensed among the people in this category as a precaution for leptospirosis. The dosage of the medicine was confirmed according to the weight of the kids.
Meanwhile, Kerala reported 1511 leptospirosis cases this year. As many as 55 deaths were reported. Out of the 1931 people, who sought treatment with symptoms of leptospirosis, 148 people had died.
RELATED STORIES
.jpg?$p=ab1c568&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
.jpg?$p=298ab5c&q=0.8&f=16x11&w=104)
