A sleeping girl rests in her bed. S.Benitez (Getty Images)
If your child has a mouth, hand or foot condition; or if you test positive for RSV, the bronchiolitis virus, you should stay at home. These are two of the main diseases that the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia has included, compared to the last edition of 2018, in the document Criteria for refraining from attending school or daycare for a certain period due to communicable diseases. For the first time they appear in the health guide, which contains up to 30 diseases for which one should avoid school attendance, as well as another 10 that require control measures.
The list includes the main pathologies that must be reported and those that, according to the department, have been detected most often in the educational sector. RSV, which causes bronchiolitis and pneumonia, reached rates of up to 580 cases per 100,000 people in children under four last year, and the number is almost five times higher in babies under one year old. For this reason, hospitals were under great pressure to provide supplies. Vaccination against RSV began this year with a monoclonal antibody and the number of hospitalizations has fallen sharply. Health recommends avoiding contact “until recovery or until 24 hours after fever disappears” once a positive RSV test is performed in an outpatient clinic.
In the “Rashes or Skin Lesions” section, “Health” includes mouth, hand and foot, a very contagious disease common in children under five years of age, in which mouth sores or skin rashes develop on these extremities of the body. . “Hygiene and handwashing must be carried out to minimize the risk of spread,” the guide emphasizes.
The document emphasizes that infectious diseases are “common” among school children and emphasizes that those affected by a “mild” respiratory infection do not need to stay at home. “Transmission of infection occurs before symptoms appear or through contact with other children with asymptomatic infections,” said the document prepared by the ministry’s General Subdirectorate of Public Health Surveillance and Emergency Response.
The recommendations list the conditions under which the student should avoid going to school: if he or she cannot carry out his/her activities “normally”; when the illness requires “more attention” than educational leaders can give it; if “fever, lethargy, irritability, or constant crying” occurs; or if skin rashes occur with fever and there is no medical diagnosis. These conditions were already included in the last edition. Health sources emphasize the importance of not attending class with a fever or after taking antipyretics: “First, bringing down the fever does not stop you being contagious; and secondly, the effect lasts between six and eight hours and the child will feel unwell again at the end of the school day,” they emphasize.
The diseases that appear in the document
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- Respiratory tract infections. Strep throat, viral tonsillitis, whooping cough (pertussis), tuberculosis, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
- Gastrointestinal diseases. Diarrhea caused by salmonella or shigella, diarrhea or vomiting caused by other microorganisms and noroviruses.
- Rashes or skin lesions. Mouth-hand-foot, scarlet fever, rubella, measles, shingles (when the blisters come out), chickenpox, impetigo, scabies, lice and ringworm. In the event of the appearance of warts (in swimming pools, gyms, etc.), pinnipeds, contagious molluscs, herpes simplex (avoid kissing or contact with these lesions) and erythema, measures should be taken without leaving school.
- Eye infections. Purulent conjunctivitis (with discharge or hooked eyelids).
- Other infections: Bacterial meningitis, mononucleosis, mumps and hepatitis A. Extra caution is also required for viral meningitis, hepatitis B and C, HIV (not spread through casual contact) and pinworms (intestinal worms) without having to avoid school. .
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