How the media got their coverage of the ‘tomato flu’ so wrong

Have you heard about the new virus sweeping children in India? It’s called the ‘tomato flu’ and according to some reports we should all be very concerned. It turns out that “tomato flu” is not new and has been around in some form for at least 15 years, possibly a relatively new symptom of a common childhood virus.

On August 17, the correspondence was published in the journal lancet respiratory medicineA letter entitled .Tomato flu epidemic in Indiareported on the possible emergence of a “new virus”, with 82 children diagnosed with a mysterious illness between early May and late July.

In the first paragraph of the letter, you can find red flags describing this viral disease as “new,” “emerging,” and “endemic.” one researcher explained As if completely inconsistent. How can viruses be both emerging and endemic at the same time?

The letter characterizes tomato flu as a COVID-19-like illness – with symptoms of fever, fatigue and body aches – a large, painful ailment that can reach the size of a tomato. It also shows blisters. Hence the name tomato flu.

The letter speculated that the disease could range from a new form of common childhood infection to some kind of post-viral condition, but essentially, “tomato flu.” as a “new virus”. It was a news report from a local Indian website.

Letters of this kind to journals are not peer-reviewed. lancetThey have not been overlooked and are open to the public, and often serve as valuable sirens for other scientists, highlighting those that merit more detailed scrutiny. News of the “new virus” could not sit quietly for the weeks scientists needed to test its proposals in action.

Within days, this story was amplified by hundreds of articles, and the tomato flu became a reality based on this single communication, with no real lab-verified evidence. loudly proclaimedIndia on alert as rare viral disease tomato flu spreads,”Such The outlet warned of a ‘mysterious new disease’ It could spread to your country and infect your children.

While these exaggerated stories were circulating, some researchers began to question the veracity of this initial research letter. published the answer The letter claims there is no evidence that these illnesses in India were caused by a new virus, and that the current news cycle appears to be based largely on “heat”.

“All news is basically based on a single case report from a public official apparently describing an outbreak of what is locally called ‘tomato flu’.” Meyerowitz-Katz explains:“But it’s… not really much to go on. The authors didn’t even provide evidence that this was in fact a virus, opening the door to other pathogens that could cause similar rashes.” I’m leaving.”

Meyerowitz-Katz and other researchers soon Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases2 days later lancet Correspondence. This letter from a team of infectious disease researchers in the UK reports two suspected cases of ‘tomato flu’.

Two children, a 5-year-old boy and a 13-month-old girl, developed symptoms of a mysterious ‘tomato flu’ illness a week after returning from a family trip in Kerala, India. Laboratory tests revealed that the children did not have the mysterious new virus, but were, in fact, infected with a common children’s enterovirus named Coxsackie A16.

“Coxsackie A16 causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD), which is caused by blisters on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and in the mouth,” explains microbiologist Sarah Pitt. conversation“So the tomato flu is actually like HFMD. It’s not a form of flu, it’s not related to tomatoes, it’s not a brand new disease.”

Not only that, but British researchers have shown that the particular virus strain isn’t even particularly unique. Associated.

Meyerowitz-Katz said the UK data “slam dunkWhile we can completely ignore concerns about a new disease emerging in India, there is enough evidence to deter any reasonable scientist from claiming that the ‘tomato flu’ is something entirely new. And perhaps more relevant is the simple fact that the terms “tomato flu” and “tomato fever” have long been used in India to refer to outbreaks of illness of unknown origin.

For example, in 2007, thousands of people in Kerala were diagnosed with a mysterious disease. At the time, it was called “tomato fever.” Symptoms included fever, rash, and “tomato-like wounds, especially on the hands and feet, which oozed fluid.”

During this mysterious outbreak, the disease was suspected to be a post-viral condition after being infected with a mosquito-borne virus called Chikungunya. The hypothesis was that the “tomato fever” illness could be a sequela of a previous viral infection.

And now some researchers speculate that this wave of “tomato flu” may be linked to COVID-19. Sarah Pitt said Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, from last year’s outbreak of hepatitis in children to the recent global outbreak of monkeypox, the virus has been behaving strangely.

Ashley Quigley, research associate for global biosecurity at the Kirby Institute, said her team’s AI-powered epidemic surveillance system had detected signs of unusual disease activity in India, but it wasn’t the “tomato flu” I said it doesn’t mean it’s some kind of new virus. Instead, SARS-CoV-2 infection may have weakened the immune system, allowing existing viruses to emerge in new or unusual forms.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, over-vigilance and improved surveillance techniques and reporting may be causing more infections, but the long-term effects of COVID-19 are already weakening. There may be an increase in diseases of the immune system that we have, so until we know more about this infection, we need to be vigilant.” Quigley said:.

Virologist Angela Rasmussen has been particularly blunt in criticizing the media for recent coverage of the “tomato flu.” According to Rasmussen, the recent ‘tomato flu’ report is certainly interesting from an epidemiological point of view and worthy of investigation, but the ‘alarming’, ‘unhelpful’ and ‘sensational’ news Articles are a great example of “how not to report”. Infection. ”

“After 2.5 years of this issue, I think journalists know better than to cover the ‘novel tomato flu virus’ uncritically. It says a lot: click or truth.” Rasmussen tweeted.