Coronavirus, measles and tuberculosis: it turned out why schools are closed for quarantine

The flu is on the decline, experts say. But at the same time, entire classes and schools are going to remote learning due to quarantine. It is reported that a certain intestinal infection, presumably norovirus, is affecting children in St. Petersburg. Whooping cough was found in the Urals, the Kama region is preparing for a measles invasion. In different parts of the country, including Central Russia and the Moscow Region, seemingly forgotten diseases such as rubella, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis are raising their heads.

In St. Petersburg, they first reported a mass poisoning in a school canteen – they say that 17 people were “poisoned.” Then, when the number of cases became much larger and characteristic symptoms of an intestinal infection appeared, such as vomiting, high fever and dehydration, it became clear that it was a virus.

Rospotrebnadzor took food samples from the school canteen. In the meantime, the entire school No. 260 from the Admiralteysky district of St. Petersburg has been transferred to distance learning. It is known that more than 50 people, including adults, suffered from manifestations of enteritis. Doctors suspect norovirus, an intestinal infection related to the well-known rotavirus, is to blame.

In Perm, back in November 2023, one of the students of the Tochka art school was diagnosed with whooping cough. Moreover, the child was not shown to the doctor immediately; the girl went to classes for a long time, coughing heavily. After the New Year, parents’ social networks began to spread information about several cases of whooping cough among students at school No. 22. But these reports were not officially confirmed. Although, earlier the local Rospotrebnadzor recognized an increase in whooping cough disease in the Kama region in the fall of 2023.

Many Perm residents believe that there is an outbreak in the city; both children and adults are getting sick. “In our neighborhood, this whooping cough was going on all fall, not a single class was closed for quarantine,” Marina complains.

“I was sick for a long time, almost a month,” says local resident Evgeniy. “I coughed hard, especially at night.” But, according to the man, the doctor did not give directions for tests. And he even said: “What if whooping cough is confirmed, why do you need to sit in quarantine.”

Therefore, many people think that doctors diagnose whooping cough as an acute respiratory viral infection. Residents also point to the shortage of vaccines in the region, which is why many were unable to revaccinate their children.

In Nizhnevartovsk, since the beginning of the year, two schools and a lyceum have been sent to remote learning due to “measles, ARVI and flu.” Although the local regulatory agency does not hide that the main culprit of the removal is the measles virus, since “it is highly volatile.” Now schools have already opened, but students were left remote without measles vaccinations.

It must be admitted that the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug took a possible outbreak of the disease seriously, opening “measles centers,” including in the city clinics of Nizhnevartovsk. It is known that the virus, easily transmitted by children and adolescents, can be dangerous for adults. Therefore, the principle of work in “core centers” is strict, as in “covidariums”: special protection for personnel, isolated entrance, remote monitoring of patients.

And in Kaliningrad, school No. 26 was closed “due to measles.” “Four cases of measles have been registered among students – all from the same family. In the first student, the disease was detected when seeking medical help, in the rest – actively, during medical observation,” reports Rospotrebnadzor. Previously, people in the region also complained about the lack of a comprehensive vaccine.

And again from the Northern capital – there one of the students of school No. 203 in the Krasnoselsky district was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Now two thousand school students and 200 “contact” personnel are ordered to do a diaskintest, take tests and undergo fluorography. The school premises will be completely disinfected. The case is being investigated and taken under control by Rospotrebnadzor.

At the end of 2023, a similar case of tuberculosis occurred in Vyborg – there an open form of the disease was found in a school employee.

MK spoke with pediatrician Evgeny Serdobinsky about how to protect yourself from these seemingly forgotten infections.

– Well, let’s take it in order. Norovirus is also an RNA virus, just like rotavirus, which is well known to everyone. They are also similar in symptoms, only norovirus may have a more acute onset. In children, severe vomiting occurs as a reaction, in which case it is necessary to be hospitalized. And in any case, do not self-medicate, but seek medical help. It’s not for nothing that this is an acute intestinal infection.

Norovirus can be dangerous for the elderly, for young children, for anyone with unstable immunity. But I wouldn’t say that he is worse than others. To protect yourself, you must maintain good hygiene and wash your hands well and often. Dress for the weather, toughen up, support your immune system with walks and proper nutrition.

But as for those diseases that we “forgot” about: measles, rubella, mumps, whooping cough, scarlet fever… Yes, now we hear about them and even sometimes see them. Some people think this is the fault of anti-vaxxers, others think that the diseases are imported. I’ll tell you about the stereotypes that I often observe among parents. Yes, lately there have been interruptions with the usual vaccines. I support the desire to be revaccinated with the same vaccine that was originally given.

But if you are even six months overdue for revaccination, it is not the end of the world. The vaccine does not stop working immediately after the end of the vaccination period; there is no “breaking the chain”, as many believe. Yes, the number of antibodies decreases, the rate is strictly individual. Many people still have a high titer even after a year. But if the previous vaccine is not available and is not expected, you can be revaccinated with an alternative one.

And about tuberculosis. For some reason we like to scare them. Tuberculosis is extremely difficult to contract. To do this, the person himself must have a genetic predisposition to this disease. The tuberculosis bacterium is transmitted by airborne droplets, but very sluggishly and reluctantly. That is, you need to stay with a sick person in the same enclosed space for a long, long time. And all this time, do not wash your hands, do not disinfect in any way. And it is advisable to “go hungry and go cold”… There are 10 million tuberculosis patients around the world. Hardly more than the entire number of lepers in our time.